The symbolism of Vishnu

In the Hindu system of worship, idols have a special place. They not only provide a focus for the worshipping mind, but also are highly symbolic. One of the most prominent idols is of the Lord Vishnu with 4 hands.
Vishnu as most people would know stands at the top of the hierarchy of Indian Gods. Vishnu is normally shown as having four hands in which he holds a lotus flower, a mace, a conch and a revolving disc. By itself it would surely seem odd as to why a God should be carrying these four items.
Let us try to analyze his 4 hands from a typical story/mythology/moralistic perspective. At the individual level, all of us do activities which range from bad to good. When we do a bad thing or even when the thought of doing it arises, Vishnu blows a conch to warn us of the impending bad act. If we listen to it and do not do the bad thing, we will be blessed with a lovely lotus. If we decide not to listen to the conch and go ahead with the bad act, then Vishnu shakes us up by giving us a blow with his mace. Hopefully this will dissuade us from doing such an act in future. If even the mace blow does not wake us up, and we continue with bad deds, Vishnu uses his powerful revolving disc to cut off our heads thus ridding the world of evilness.
Let us try to analyze this from a psychological perspective. When we are about to do an act that is not right, most often, there is that inner voice(conch) telling us not to do it. If we listen to that inner voice and not do the bad act, we are blessed with peace(lotus). However if we disregard the inner voice and do the bad thing, we are hit by the severe guilt of having done the bad deed(the mace). In the final stage, if we continue doing the bad thing, the guilt consumes us and we either hurt ourselves as atonement or in many cases commit suicide(the revolving disc).
Let us now analyze this from the spiritual perspective. As I have mentioned earlier, the only reality is the supreme and we are all just the individual souls who have forgotten the truth of the supreme and think we are the body/mind/intellect. When we think of doing any act that does not lead us to the supreme, there is first the inner voice warning us that we are the supreme and what we plan to do will take us away from that path. If we listen to that voice of the intellect, we are not affected by the karmic influence of the act. However if we continue with the act, the act gets its immediate karmic effect and will come back to haunt us in this life or in some future life. Assuming the act was done once and then we realize the error and not do it, the karmic influence is to that extent only. However if we do not stop and continue, the karmic influence of the act of going away from the supreme will ensure that we get into many more cycles of birth and death and we will suffer the karmic effects.