Episcopal Presiding Bishop Schori - Wears Hindu Vishnu Symbol on Her

In almost all Hindu denominations, Vishnu is either worshipped directly or in the form of his ten avatars, the most famous of whom are Rama and Krishna.^[11] The Puranabharti, an ancient text, describes these as the dashavatara, or the ten avatars of Vishnu. Among the ten described, nine have occurred in the past and one will take place in the future, at the end of Kali Yuga, (the fourth and final stage in the cycle of yugas that the world goes through). These incarnations take place in all Yugas in cosmic scales; the avatars and their stories show that gods are indeed unimaginable, unthinkable and inconceivable. TheBhagavad Gita mentions their purpose as being to rejuvenate dharma,^[12] to vanquish those negative forces of evil that threaten dharma and also to display His divine nature in front of fallen souls.

The Trimurti (three forms) is a concept in Hinduism "in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the maintainer or preserver, and Shiva the destroyer or transformer."^[13][14] These three deities have also been called "the Hindu triad"^[15] or the "Great Trinity",^[16] all having the same meaning of three in One. Of the three members of the Trimurti, the Bhagavata Purana, which espouses the Vaishnavite viewpoint, claims that the greatest benefit can be had from worshipping Vishnu.^[17] Vishnu engages in the creation of 14 worlds within the universe as Brahma when he deliberately accepts rajas guna. Vishnu sustains, maintains and preserves the universe as Vishnu when he accepts sattva guna and annihilates the universe at the end of maha-kalpa as Shiva or Rudra when he accepts tamas guna.^[18][19][20] According to this reference, the holy Trimurti is not different from Vishnu.