| The Mahabharata declares that the luminaries in the universe, the three worlds, the protectors of the worlds, and the three Vedas, the three sacred fires, the five oblations, and all the Devas-all are the sons of Devaki;
saurih (340, 644), the son of Vasudeva of the
Sura clan;
Yadusresthah (706), the chief of the
Yadus; dasarhah (511), born in the Dasarha family;
satvatam patih (512), the Lord of
Satvatatantra; sikhandi (311), the One with a peacock feather on His head;
damodarah (367), 'He who, as a boy was tied with a cord round his waist by Yasoda to two trees', or 'He who is known through the mind that has been sublimated
(udara) by disciplines such as self-control
(dama); suyamunah (708).
One who was surrounded by those who lived on the bank of the Yamuna river, i.e., the Yadava clan, the gods in the guise of cowherds;
gopatih (495, 592), the Lord of Cows, the Lord of the Earth;
govindah (187, 539), the One who redeemed the Earth, the Lord over the Cows, over the Devas, over speech, the One who is known through Veda and Vedanta;
mukundah (515), one who grants release; janardanah (126), He who punishes the wicked, He who is prayed to by men.
According to the Hindu view, God is both immanent and transcendent. It may legitimately be claimed that this view is quite 'honest' to God, as it avoids the defects of
pan- cosmism and transcosmism. The world does not exhaust God, nor is He a
deus ex machina. The Lord is both
visvamaya, of the form of the universe, and
visvadhika, more than the universe. |
