| Vishnu |
Varanasi Tour India || Jhansi Tour India || Orcha Tour India || Khajuraho Tour India || Gwalior Tour India
|| Qutub Minar India || Gujarat Saurashtra Tour || Panchvati Tour || Char Dham Yatra
|| Qutub Minar India || Gujarat Saurashtra Tour || Panchvati Tour || Char Dham Yatra
God transcends gender and gender is simply used for embodied human beings to worship. For example, Shaivites and Vaishnavites worship God in non-anthromorphic images, namely, the Linga and Saligram respectively. The principle that God's true nature is sexless is emphasized in the Vishnu Sahasranama, a prayer reciting the 1000 names of Vishnu.
Just as Muslims focus on (God) Allah's 99 "attributes" stated in the Qur'an, the holy book of the Muslims, many Hindus worship Vishnu daily by chanting his names which are also attributes.
The first few names of Vishnu Sahasranama, in particular, do not describe features of Vishnu in detail and hence are not anthropomorphic in nature, and instead focus on His inherent nature or characteristics such as pervading the universe and as destroyer of sin.
While Vishnu is commonly portrayed with human features, Swami Tapasyananda in his book Bhakti Schools of Vedanta reminds readers that Vishnu pervades everything and is not anthropomorphic. He has no particular material form but can manifest in any form, and is a center of all force, power, will, auspiciousness, goodness, beauty, grace, responsiveness, etc.
Swami Tapasyananda said, "Vishnu is the Indwelling Spirit in all beings and the whole cosmos constitute His body". As Vishnu is the all-pervading Spirit and the Supreme Personality, anthropomorphism is deemphasized in Vishnu Sahasranama. Thus, like Judaism and Islam, God's inherent nature transcends gender. However, Vishnu has been traditionally referred to using male grammatical gender.
Just as Muslims focus on (God) Allah's 99 "attributes" stated in the Qur'an, the holy book of the Muslims, many Hindus worship Vishnu daily by chanting his names which are also attributes.
The first few names of Vishnu Sahasranama, in particular, do not describe features of Vishnu in detail and hence are not anthropomorphic in nature, and instead focus on His inherent nature or characteristics such as pervading the universe and as destroyer of sin.
While Vishnu is commonly portrayed with human features, Swami Tapasyananda in his book Bhakti Schools of Vedanta reminds readers that Vishnu pervades everything and is not anthropomorphic. He has no particular material form but can manifest in any form, and is a center of all force, power, will, auspiciousness, goodness, beauty, grace, responsiveness, etc.
Swami Tapasyananda said, "Vishnu is the Indwelling Spirit in all beings and the whole cosmos constitute His body". As Vishnu is the all-pervading Spirit and the Supreme Personality, anthropomorphism is deemphasized in Vishnu Sahasranama. Thus, like Judaism and Islam, God's inherent nature transcends gender. However, Vishnu has been traditionally referred to using male grammatical gender.
