We now come to the Second in the triad, Krishna or Vishnu; that is, the incarnation of Brāhma generally. Many and various are the incarnations of this kind which are reckoned up by the Hindus. The general meaning here is that Brāhma appears as man: it cannot, nevertheless, be said that it is Brahma who appears as man, for this assumption of humanity is not actually held to be the pure form of Brāhma.
Monstrous poetical fictions make their appearance in this region: Krishna is also Brahmā, Vishnu. These popular conceptions of incarnations appear partly to have in them echoes of what is historical, and point to the fact that great conquerors who gave a new shape to the condition of things are the gods, and are thus described as gods. The deeds of Krishna are conquests in connection with which the course of events was sufficiently ungodlike; indeed, conquest and amours are the two aspects, the most important acts of the incarnations.
The Third is Siva, Mahādeva, the great god, or Rudra: this ought to be the return into self. The First, namely, Brāhma, is the most distant unity, the self-enclosed unity; the Second, Vishnu, is manifestation (the moments of Spirit are thus far not to be mistaken), is life in human form. The Third should be the return to the First, in order that the unity might appear as returning into itself. But it is just this Third which is what is devoid of Spirit; it is the determination of Becoming generally, or of coming into being and passing away. It has been stated that change in the general sense is the Third; thus the fundamental characteristic of Siva is on the one hand the prodigious life-force, on the other what destroys, devastates; the wild energy of natural life. Its principal symbol is therefore the Ox, on account of its strength, but the most universal representation is the Lingam, which was reverenced among the Greeks as φἀλλος, and it is this sign which is to be found in most of the temples. The innermost sanctuary contains it.
