Who are Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha?
In many passages of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and other books, we read about the Catur-vyūha: as Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha, the four expansions of the Lord. Who are they after all?
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In many passages of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and other books, we read about the Catur-vyūha: as Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha, the four expansions of the Lord. However this is a topic that can be bewildering. Who are they after all?
Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha are the source of all the different ingredients of the cosmic manifestation, including the Puruṣa-avatāras. Everything that exists comes from them. This is explained in the prayers of Lord Śiva in the 4th canto of Śrimad Bhagavatam.
Vāsudeva is the source of consciousness. Saṅkarṣaṇa manifests the false ego and is the source of Mahā-Viṣnu. Pradyumna manifests material intelligence and is the source of Garbhodakaśāyī-Viṣṇu and the subtle universal form, while Aniruddha manifests the material mind and is the source of Kṣīrodakaśāyī-Viṣnu, the Supersoul, and of the physical universe.
This quadruple expansion also manifests in the different lilas of the Lord. Although Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, He expands Himself into Vāsudeva to appear as the son of Vasudeva and Devakī, fight demons, and act as a prince in Dvārakā. As Saṅkarṣaṇa, Balarāma follows Krsna in all these roles, and as Pradyumna and Aniruddha, He appears as His own sons. In Vaikuṇṭha, Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha preside over different Vaikuṇṭha planets, and so on. They play many different lilas.
Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha are involved in the material creation, but they are not affected by the material manifestation, remaining completely transcendental, just as Lord Vāsudeva. How can the Lord remain transcendental, even though engaged? “He is always peaceful and devoid of agitation because of His prowess, which is described herein as sva-rociṣe, indicating that He is illuminated by His own transcendental position.”
The Lord is self-luminous, and therefore there is no possibility of His being covered by the material energy, just as there is no possibility of the sun being covered in darkness. As long as we remain within His illumination, under the care of the internal potency of the Lord, we also can’t be covered, but when we decide to leave His shelter, we are quickly captured by the illusory potency. The reason Lord Śiva emphasizes the potency and later the form of the Lord is to bring us to the point of devotional service, the only process that allows us to regain our original position.
The three Puruṣas
As Mahā-Viṣnu, Saṅkarṣaṇa is the origin of all universes and all material elements, and therefore He is the master of integration, or creation. The subtle unmanifested elements generated from Mahā-Viṣnu later manifest as gross elements inside each individual universe. Later, when he inhales, all universes are destroyed, and thus, He is also the master of disintegration, or destruction. Saṅkarṣaṇa also manifests as Ananta-śeṣa (or Saṅkarṣaṇa), who manifests both inside each universe (sustaining all planets) and outside, sustaining all universes on His hoods. At the time of destruction, Ananta-śeṣa destroys each universe from the inside, as well as all universes from the outside, by the fire emanating from his mouths. Lord Śiva himself also participates in this process by performing his Tāṇḍava, or dance of destruction.
As Pradyumna, the Lord becomes the master of material intelligence and manifests as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣnu (who is the master of the development of each individual universe, being the father of Brahma). He is also the source of the subtle manifestation of the universe (as described in detail in the 2nd canto). Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣnu expands into Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who is the Supersoul in everyone’s heart and the source of the gross material manifestation.
All three Puruṣas can be described as all-pervading and as the Supersoul, as they are in different verses. Mahā-Viṣnu pervades the entire cosmic manifestation and is thus the Supersoul of all universes. Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣnu is the Supersoul of His particular universe, while Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the Supersoul of all individual living entities and each individual atom.
The source and master of the senses
As Aniruddha, the Lord is the source and master of the senses and the mind. Devotional service starts by fixing the mind on the lotus feet of the Lord, and we can achieve that by the mercy of the Lord Himself. Lord Śiva thus shows by his own example how we should pray to Lord Aniruddha for His mercy.
Aniruddha expands as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣnu, who is the source of all the incarnations of the Lord inside the universe (except Krsna and Balarāma, who are the original Personality of Godhead, the source of all incarnations). The Sun is also a manifestation of the Lord, and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣnu is the source of power of both the sun itself and of the demigod of the sun, who appears as His expansion. This relationship is indicated in the verses by the words paramahaṁsa and nibhṛtātmane, which refer to the sun-god.
The context of the invocation of the Sun-god in his prayers is that when there is sufficient sunshine, the mind becomes clear, and this helps transcendentalists engaged in the practice of self-realization. Lord Aniruddha is both the source and controller of the mind, and of the Sun and the sun-god, which purify the mind by its light. “Thus Lord Śiva prays to Aniruddha to be kind upon him so that his mind will always be in the perfect state of cleanliness and will be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. Just as fire sterilizes all unclean things, the sun-god also keeps everything sterilized, especially dirty things within the mind, thus enabling one to attain elevation to the platform of spiritual understanding.”
Lord Aniruddha is also the giver of the results of fruitive activities, elevating the performers of karma-kanda sacrifices to the celestial planets as they desire. In this way, even worshipers of demigods depend on the Lord to receive the results they desire. When one comes to the platform of devotional service, however, He helps the devotee to improve his service and return back home, back to Godhead, by giving one inspiration to perform one’s service and advance.
Lord Śiva describes Aniruddha as possessing semen which is like gold, which alludes to His creative potency in creating the physical manifestation of the universe, maintaining, transforming, and purifying. The word used is vīryāya (creative potency, or semen), which is also used in relation to Mahā-Viṣnu, describing his look in the direction of the material energy, which causes the creation of all the material universes, just as a man impregnates a woman. Aniruddha is also the source of the fire-god, without whom no Vedic sacrifices can be performed. All processes of elevation are thus connected to Lord Aniruddha.
More meanings is that when we take birth, we contract so many debts with ancestors, demigods, etc. However, the Lord is the master of both the pitṛs and demigods, as well as everyone else. Lord Śiva thus prays to the Lord to remove all these debts, so he can be completely engaged in devotional service. Lord Aniruddha is also the source of Soma, the demigod of the moon, who is the predominating deity for the sense of taste. Śiva thus prays to Him to have the strength to control his tongue and be satisfied by eating only the prasāda of the Lord.
In the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, Aniruddha is called Vaiśvānara, the universal person, because He is the source of the universal form, the physical manifestation of the universe (there is also the subtle universal form, which is manifested from Pradyumna, as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣnu). Just as our bodies are composed of innumerable cells and microorganisms, the universal form of the Lord includes all the bodies of all living entities living inside the universe. Since we are part of the cosmic body of the Lord, we should engage in His service, and we should pray to Him to be able to do so. Out of compassion, Lord Śiva prays to Lord Aniruddha as the Universal form so that He may engage all living entities in His devotional service.
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