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OF THE HINDUS.
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of his creatures: he is, or has been visibly present amongst men, in five modifications: in his ARCHÁ, objects of worship, as images, &c.; in the Vibhavas, or Avatáras, as the fish, the boar, &c.; in certain forms called Vyúhas, of which four are enumerated, VASUDEVA, or KRISHNA, BALARÁMA, PRADYUMNA, and ANIRUDDHA; fourthly, in the Súkshma form, which, when perfect, comprises six qualities: Virajas, absence of human passion; Vimrityu, immortality; Viśoka, exemption from care or pain; Vijighatsá, absence of natural wants; Satyakáma, and Satyasankalpa, the love and practice of truth; and sixthly, as the Antarátmá, or Antaryámi, the human soul, or individualised spirit: these are to be worshipped seriatim, as the ministrant ascends in the scale of perfection, and adoration therefore is five-fold; Abhigamanam, cleaning and purifying the temples, images, &c. Upádánam, providing flowers and perfumes for religious rites; Ijyá, the presentation of such offerings, blood offerings being uniformly prohibited, it may be observed, by all the Vaishnavas; Swadhyaya, counting the rosary and repeating the names of the divinity, or any of his forms; and Yoga, the effort to unite with the deity*: the reward of these acts is elevation to the seat of VISHNU, and enjoyment of like state with his own, interpreted to be perpetual residence in Vaikuntha, or Vishnu's heaven, in a condition of pure ecstasy and eternal rapture.
* [Sarva Darśana Sangraha, p. 54-56.]
