Vamana Purana — Shiva's Kedara Tirtha, Shloka 63
Shiva’s Kedara-Tirtha and the Rise of Mura: From Shaiva Pilgrimage to Vaishnava Theology
नारद उवाच चतुर्मूर्त्तिः कथं विष्णुरेक एव निगद्यते सर्वगत्वात् कथमपि अव्यक्तत्वाच्च तद्वद
nārada uvāca caturmūrttiḥ kathaṃ viṣṇureka eva nigadyate sarvagatvāt kathamapi avyaktatvācca tadvada
Nārada berkata: “Bagaimanakah Viṣṇu, walaupun satu sahaja, disebut sebagai ‘berwujud empat’? Oleh kerana Baginda meliputi segala-galanya, dan juga bersifat tidak termanifest (avyakta), jelaskanlah hal itu kepadaku.”
{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "shanta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
He is asking how a single, all-pervading and unmanifest deity can meaningfully be described with a numerical plurality (‘four forms’). This is the classic Purāṇic tension between nirguṇa/avyakta transcendence and saguna/manifest functional plurality.
Not necessarily. In Purāṇic and allied Vaiṣṇava usage it often denotes four functional or emanational aspects (vyūhas) through which the one Lord becomes accessible for cosmic governance and devotion, without compromising ontological unity.
Kṣīrodaśāyī Vishnu is a devotional-cosmological visualization of the unmanifest becoming ‘present’ in a describable form. The question sets up an explanation of how the unmanifest (avyakta) can be spoken of via manifest modes (mūrti/vyūha) for the sake of cosmology and worship.