Vishnu
Vishnu has qualities of being both transcendent and personal. As the transcendent god, he protects the worlds as the “the unconquerable preserver…and it is this quality of preservation that becomes his major attribute.” (Religions Of The World, 1969:419) As the un-manifest aspect of Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, Vishnu protects of the Universe from his place in paradise. He is shown lying slumbering on the great serpent Ananta, symbolizing eternity, and they are floating on an ocean of milk, or on the static state of absolute, uniform totality.
As the personal god, Vishnu multiplies: first, he emanates his manifestation as the divine feminine through his wife Lakshmi, who is goddess of abundance, beauty and harmony. Ultimately he manifests in many shapes, as “avatar incarnations” on earth, to help humans. To intervene in the affairs of men when the burden of sorrow was too great to bear is a topic of many myths. Vishnu is also formidable in his multiple god-forms. The gods Rama and Krishna are two of Vishnu’s more notable incarnations represented in the Epic writings known as the Ramayana and the Bhagavad-Gita. Lakshmi, in turn, has incarnations that are consorts to those incarnations of Vishnu. For example, as the goddess Sita, she is consort to Rama.
Vishnu is most often shown as a blue-colored and kingly god with a crown and four arms. His hands are shown bearing the conch shell of creation; the mace of sovereignty; the lotus of creative unfoldment; and a disk, or wheel, that represents both the sun and a weapon. Sometimes he is shown with a sword, representing wisdom. A jewel in the center of his chest symbolizes the pure, undefiled aspect of the world, which he protects. The color of his skin can represent the deepness of space that separates god from man, and reflects his infinity. Krishna, one of his incarnations, is also blue. Another interpretation is that “dark blue or black is the color of ether, the all-pervading element in the universe, and thus a symbol of the all-pervading god.” (Religions Of The World, 1969:421)