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Concept and Symbolic Meaning of Narayana in Hinduism

Today in Hinduism, Narayana might be one of the popular names of Vishnu. The term Narayana can be traced back to the Vedas. There is a deep symbolic meaning attached to the term. Nara means the first being; nara also means water.


As per Satapatha Brahmana, the supreme soul, the self-existent Lord who is referred as Prajapati created waters and deposited in them a seed which became the golden egg – Hiranyagarbha or Brahmanda. 

Prajapati was himself born as Brahma, the progenitor of all the worlds.

As water was his first abode(ayana), he was called Narayana or ‘One who rests in water’.

In nutshell, life began in water. And he that is water is Narayana.