Maybe it's time to review where our tradition comes from. http://www.templenet.com/hima1.html
[image: Inline image 1] The image of Shri Badri Narayana here is fashioned out of a Saligramam stone. Shri Badri Narayana is seated under the badari tree, flanked by Kubera and Garuda, Narada, Narayana and Nara. Lord Badri Narayan is armed with Conch and Chakra in two arms in a lifted posture and two more arms rested on the lap in Yoga Mudra. There is also a shrine to Adi Sankara, and the procedures of daily pujas and rituals are supposed to have been prescribed by the Adi. Are we agreed so far? Description - The principal image is of black stone and it represents Vishnu seated in meditative pose. According to Kathleen Cox, a recent visitor to the shrine, "The Badrinath shrine is a famous vastu-designed temple that has been renovated through the centuries. Certain beliefs consider this image to be that of the Buddha, given the seated posture and the placement of the arms. The meditative pose of the black stone representation of Vishnu certainly recalls the Buddha, which is not a coincidence - the Buddha was the ninth avatar of Vishnu." Mythology - According to Lama Govinda, "There can be no doubt about the symbolical relationship between the Mahayana-Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of infinite light, and Vishnu, the sun-god." Both of them are supposed to incarnate their love and compassion in the form of helpers and teachers of humanity as bodhisattvas and avatars. Both of them have the wheel of the law as their attribute. Other common attributes are the tree of enlightenment and the stupa. Thus the solar symbolism of the world tree came again into iconography, while the hemisphere of the stupa became the element of vertical spiritual development." Work cited: 'The Psycho-cosmic Symbolism of the Buddhist Stupa' by Lama Anagarika Govinda Dharma Publishing 1976 Paper. 102 p. Illustrated. Index. p. 41-42 'Vastu Living' Creating a Home for the Soul by Kathleen Cox Marlowe and Company 2000 247 p. Paper. Illustrated. Glossary. Index. p.76-77
