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12. VAISHNAVISM
In the technical terms, these refer to three gunas (properties) of nature viz. Satwa (pulling up), Rajas (fighting) and Tamas (darkness or death) in which Vishnu provides the Satwas aspect of the cosmos. This dialectical nature of cosmos came to India by the third century AD through the Gnostics of Persia; the greatest proponent of this was Manichean.
In order to provide the presence in history Vishnu plays the five forms:
Avatars - the direct incarnation in a life form Cosmic force which is eternally fighting decay and death Consciousness of the living, which in nature consciously directs the fight. Every being is Vishnu in essence Vuyha, the direct emanation of the power of Vishnu. There are many such emanations of
godhead such as Vasudeva-Krishna, Samkarsana, Pradymna, Aniruddha etc. • Immanent God which is all pervading image of God pervading the cosmos as intelligence.
None of these concepts is found in the Vedas. They suddenly appeared in the Indian scene during the first, second and third centuries. These can therefore be traced to two foreigners who came with a mission to evangelize. The first was St. Thomas mission and gospel was based on Christian Isa who incarnated into the earth and dwelt among us. The second was a Persian, the Gnostic Prince Mani. The duality of god and the on going fight between life and death, emanations and degrees of emanation in various levels and the corresponding variations in the avatar forms definitely belongs to
Mani.
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