Vision of Truth: The Essence of Vaishnava Art: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Elephant-headed demigods; half-human, half-lion avatars; four-armed celestials; thousand-headed serpents—however sympathetic we may be to Indian culture, the artistic dimension baffles us with its pantheon of alien beings who seem to have no connection to the world we know. From the Vaishnava perspective, these fabulous creatures are not imaginary but can be properly perceived with cultivated vision. The goal of yoga, in particular bhakti or devotional yoga, is to awaken the soul’s innate ability to perceive what physical eyes cannot: a reality lying beneath the surface of things.