Note that space in Hermes’ version of the metaphor, since it comprises functional elements derived from the other two regions — “God” and “Kosmos” — could be conceived as the common “surface” between the two. Thus, once again, we have our familiar three entities: 1) the “bracketed” region of nothing, or 2) the rest of the nothing, or
, Hermes’ “Kosmos”;
, Hermes’ “God”; and,
3) the “surface” that the two regions share, or
, Hermes’ “Space”
With this in mind, let us now look once again at the passage concerning Vishnu and the Hindu version of this primordial triad, from the Padama Purana, half a world and millennia removed from the Hermetica and related texts of Egyptian provenance: In the beginning of creation the Great Vishnu, desirous of creating the whole world, became threefold: Creator, Preserver, Destroyer. In order to create this world, the Supreme Spirit produced from the right side of his body himself as Brahmal then, in order to preserve the world, he produced from his left side Vishnu; and in order to destroy the world he produced from the middle of his body the eternal Shiva. Some worship Brahma, others Vishnu, others Shiva; but Vishnu, one yet threefold, creates, preserves, and destroys: therefore let the pious make no difference between the three.26 Once again, note that the three resulting entities, after Vishnu “differentiates himself,” are described in functional terms. So we may substitute the names Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva for Hermes’ God, Kosmos, and Space. And again, one of these, Brahma the “preserver”, appears to be a functional “set” of “nothing” that is a common surface of the other two, Vishnu the creator and Shiva the destroyer: