Page:Bengal Vaishnavism - Bipin Chandra Pal.djvu/16



The notes and marks in the cultural and social life of Bengal, constituting the individuality of the Bengalee people, have found their highest organised expression in Bengal Yaishnavism. The literal meaning of Yaishnavism is the religion or cult of Vishnu, the second deity in the Hindu triad — Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer. The literal meaning of Vishnu is All-Pervasive. In this meaning the term is used in the Vedas, where it is said that the gods always see the Supreme Presence of Vishnu like extended objects in space. As the space is in itself invisible but we visualise it in seeing things that have dimension, so the all-pervasive Vishnu, though itself invisible, is recognised as the ground and subsistence of whatever material objects