BG 18.33

The Lord in Ksheerabdi, is in Vyuha form. Neither Alwars nor Rishis have described this as a single form. Vyuham means division. The Lord at Vaikuntam has divided Himself, into Four Murtys in Vyuha form. In Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam, in sloka 15, it is said:
'Chaturatma chaturvyuha chaturdamshtra chaturbhuja:....'
The Four [chatur] mentioned here pertains to the Four Murtys of Vyuham. The Four Murtys are Vyuha Vasudeva, Sankarshana,Pradyumna and Aniruddha. These are the Four Murtys, the Lord has divided Himself. This is like the Gita sloka we have been seeing. The Lord said that He had divided the people of this world into Four categories according to their character and duties. He mentions what each category had to cultivate and what are the benefits of each category to the society. All the Four categories are equal, just like the Lord has divided Himself into Four Murtys, with each having equal glory and fame. In the following table, Vasudeva is mentioned at the end to understand. He is Vyuha Vasudeva and is in between Para Vasudeva and Vyuha Murtys Shankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. It is like a transition stage and can be compared to the intermediate stage between milk and curd. Para Vasudva is going to divide Himself into Three Murtys and Vyuha Vasudeva is intermediate stage. Para Vasudeva becomes Vyuha Vasudeva and the gets divided as Shankarhana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. The weapons held by each of them are different; their characters are different; their duties are different; their names, their adhishtanams are all different. In Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam, Bheeshma lists the Divine names of Para Vasudeva or Sri Vaikuntanatha, from 1 to 122. Divine names from 123 to 128 indicate various characters of each of the Three Vyuha Murtys, as in the Table below. In the Divine names from 129, the knowledge possessed by each of Them is indicated, upto Divine name 146. Thus 24 Divine names indicate Three Vyuha Murtys. Next, each Vyuha Murty guides an entity and it is called Adishtanam. These are indicated in the table.

	SHANKARSHANA	PRADYUMNA	ANIRUDDHA	VYUHA VASUDEVA
RESIDENCE IN KSHEERABDI	AMODHAM	PRAMODHAM	SAMMODHAM	ANANDAM
COLOR IN VARIOUS YUG	KRUTA: RED TRETA: GREEN DWAPARA: BLACK KALI: WHITE	GREEN BLACK WHITE RED	BLACK WHITE RED GREEN	WHITE RED GREEN BLACK
WEAPONS	UPPER RIGHTHAND CONCH: UPPER LEFT HAND:LOTUS LOWER RIGHT HAND:MACE LOWER LEFT HAND: DISCUS	CONCH MACE DISCUS LOTUS	MACE LOTUS DISCUS CONCH
DUTIES	DESTRUCTION	CREATION	SUSTENANCE	ALL THREE
CHARACTERS	GYANA & BALA	AISWARYAM & VEERTAM	SHAKTI & TEJAS
SVS DIVINE NAMES	123. MAHATAPA 124.SARVAGA:	125. SARVAVID 126.BHANU:	127.VISHVAKSENA 128.JANARDHANA:
KNOWLEDGE AS IN SVS DIVINE NAMES	GRANTS VEDAS	MAINTAINS VEDAS.	CREATES TATVA GYANA AND RESTORES VEDAS.
ADISHTANAM	JEEVATMAN	MANAS	AHANKARAM

Thus we can see the variants in the Murtys divided by the Lord Himself. Now we will have to see how our characters and duties are divided, in sloka 42:

śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṃ kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
jñānaṃ vijñānam āstikyaṃ brahmakarma svabhāvajam 18.42

Brahmins perform these duties with these characters. Sama = controlling external sense organs, like eyes, ears, etc. Dama = control of mind, tapa = undergoing sufferings [like fasting, in Karmas permitted by Vedas]. This is like observing Ekadasi or performing Tarpanam for deceased ancestors. Saucam = cleaning [of body, to qualify to perform a karma], ksanti = observing patience [even when circumstances provoke], arjavam = honesty [mind should think good and speech and action to follow mind], jnanam = [real] knowledge [about the Lord or Brahmam], vijnanam = special knowledge [about the Lord's all features, powers, capacity, etc.], astikyam = belief [that Lord is Most Supreme, Vedas are basic reference, atman and body are different, atman is servant to Paramatman, He is the controller and commander of Universe, He is good to all, His Divine feet are the only asylum for atman, etc. He believes in each of them as opposed to Nastikyam, saying 'not' for all above], all these are, brahmakarma = those involved in serving Brahmam [or Brahmins' duties], svabhavajam = characteretics.