Namaskar Mahatmas!

• Lokaadhyakshah – one who presides over all fields of experiences
• Suraadhyakshah – President within our heart to whom all our good in us surrender for protection
• Dharmaadhyakshah – That which constantly illumines all the nature and functions of the body, mind and intellect
• Kritaakritah – That which is both cause and effect; both manifest and unmanifest

CHATURAATMAA CHATURVYOOHAS

CHATUR-DAMSHTRAS-CHATUR-BHUJAH

CHATURAATMAA: The Self is described as four-fold when we consider the Atman as Glory or Vibhuti of the Self. The endless play of creation, sustenance and destruction that continue are the glories of the Self; In Vishnu Purana, four distinct glories of the Lord – when He functions as the Creator, Sustainer and the Destroyer are explained. All the plays of the Gross, Subtle and Causal bodies are the glories of the Self. The Waker, Dreamer, Deep-sleeper, the Tureeya are also the glories of the Supreme Truth, the non-dual reality, the Lord Vishnu. The possessor of all these glories and the one who crosses even the Tureeya state is called ‘Tureeyatheetah’.

CHATURVYOOHAH: One who manifests as four mighty powers. For the purpose of creation, Maha Vishnu Himself became four mighty powers (vyooha) and they are called Vaasudeva, Samkarshana, Pradhyumna and Aniruddha. The Truth, that plays thus Himself as four powers having created the world of plurality; the world of experiences is the Vishnu, All-pervading.

CHATUR-DAMSHTRAH: The canine teeth fully developed in the upper and lower rows like in the case of Carnivorous animals, are called in Sanskrit as Damshtraa. The Lord took the avatar of Nara-Simha with the powerful Damshtraa to protect the great devotee Prahlaada.

The Great white elephant of Indra, Airavatha has four tusks. The tusk or the teeth are nothing other than the four paadas which the Mandukya Upanishad explains as “Chatushpaada”. We experience pain and sorrow in all the three states – the waking, dream and the deep sleep because of differences. He, whose Glory are all these four grinding, crushing, fearful experiences of duality, is the One Non-dual Self, the Great Maha Vishnu.

CHATURBHUJAH: One who has four-hands is Chaturbhujah. Lord Maha Vishnu has four hands which carries the Conch, the Discus, the Mace and the Lotus. The Puranas explain that these four are used by the Lord to protect Dharma among mankind. The Conch calls us to the righteous path that leads one to peace and perfection. Many of us in the enjoyment of sense-joys refuse to listen to the small inner voice of conscience, the sound of the Conch and so He wields the ‘Mace’ and we come to suffer small calamities and tragic jerks in our smooth life. If we still fail to listen to the call of the ‘conch’, the wheel-of-time, Chakra annihilates the entire. The call and the punishment are all only to take man towards his Ultimate goal, represented by the Lotus’ in His hand.

The inner-equipment functions as four mighty powers in us namely mind, intellect, chit and ego. Chit is the Lotus, intellect is the Conch, ego is the Mace and the mind is the discus. The Self is the power behind these four functions. Since the Self functions as four, Vishnu has the appellation, “The four-armed Lord”.

Hari Om Mahatmas! We will meet tomorrow.