Do you already know who Lord Vishnu is and his 10 incarnations?

Lord Vishnu represents the aspect of the Supreme Reality that preserves and sustains the universe. Although there are variations in the images of Lord Vishnu, he is generally symbolized by a human body with four arms . In his hands he carries a shell (shankha), a mace (gada), and the disk (chakra). He wears a crown, two earrings, a (bad) flower necklace, and a jewel on the neck. He has a blue body and wears yellow clothes.

The Lord is shown standing on a thousand-headed snake (called Nag Sesa), and the snake is with its hoods open on the Lord's head.

The four arms indicate omnipresence and the omnipotence of the Lord . The two front arms mean the activity of the Lord in the physical world and the two arms back mean their activity in the spiritual world. The right side of the body represents the creative activities of the mind and intellect . The left side symbolizes the activities of the heart; that is, love, kindness and compassion.

A shell in the upper left corner indicates that the Lord communicates with His devotees with love and understanding. By blowing His shell, he exhorts his devotees to live in this world with kindness and compassion towards all living beings. A chakra in His upper right hand conveys the idea that the Lord uses this weapon to protect His devotees from evil.

The club denotes energy and a club in the lower left hand of the Lord means that he holds the world manifested by the energy that he has in himself . His right front hand is represented giving grace to His devotees.

The snake in Lord Vishnu denotes the mind and the thousand snake heads signify innumerable desires and passions of an individual. Just as a snake destroys its victim by its poison, an uncontrolled mind destroys the world by the poison of its possession. The Lord has controlled all desires, and this is symbolized by showing him sitting on the two coils of the snake. When a sincere devotee of the Lord controls his desires, the Lord fulfills the genuine wishes of the devotee and helps him on his way.

The blue sky at the bottom of the Lord suggests that it permeates the entire universe. The blue color symbolizes infinity . The blue body of the Lord means that He has infinite attributes . He is nameless, formless, and immeasurable. The yellow color is associated with the earthly existence and the yellow clothing of the Lord means that He is incarnated on this earth to defend justice and destroy evil and injustice.

A wreath of flowers around the neck of the Lord is a symbol of the worship of the devotees of the Lord. A jewel that adorns his neck means that the Lord fulfills all the genuine desires of His devotees . The crown is a symbol of power and the supreme authority of the Lord. The two slopes mean the dual nature of creation, such as knowledge and ignorance, happiness and unhappiness, and pleasure and pain.

The worship of Lord Vishnu is very popular among Hindus, especially among the followers of the Vaishnava (Vaishnavism) tradition. He is the second member of the Hindu Trinity, with Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva as the other two. Lord Vishnu is also known by other names, such as Vasudeva and Narayana .

The next 10 incarnations of Vishnu are described in Hindu mythology and are popular among Hindus. These incarnations reveal the help given by God during the different stages of human evolution.

As shown below, the first two incarnations are in the animal form, the third is a half-human and half animal, and the fourth and subsequent ones are all in human form . These incarnations relate to the human evolution from aquatic life to human life, and are consistent with the modern theory of evolution suggested by science.

10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu described by Hindu mythology

1- Matsya (fish): save Manu Sage from floods and recover the Vedas of demons.

2- Kurma (turtle): holds the earth on his back.

3- Varaha (wild boar): attributes the land from the bottom of the ocean where it was dragged by a demon, known as Hiranyaksha; Varaha kills the demon.

4- Narasimha (lion-man): Kill the demon King Hiranyakashipu, who was planning to kill his own son, a devotee of Lord Vishnu.

5- Vamana (dwarf): The first human incarnation of the Lord kills the demon King Mahabhali, who had deprived the gods of their possessions.

6-Parasurama (the warrior with an ax): save Brahmins from the tyranny of the arrogant Chatrias.

7- Rama: kill Ravana, the demon king of Lanka.

8- Sri Krishna: the most popular incarnation; Krishna's contributions throughout his life include the teachings of Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna.

9- Buddha: Hindus consider Buddha as an incarnation of the god Vishnu and accept his teachings, but do not worship him directly.

10- Kalkin (a man on a white horse): this incarnation is yet to come and will mark the end of all evil in the world.