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by Jayaram V
Hindus believe in the reincarnation of God upon earth. When God incarnates
himself upon
earth, it is called avatar. that whenever there is an ascendance of
adharma (injustice and disorder), God reincarnates Himself on earth in an
earthly form to restore balance and reestablish Dharma.
The belief is as old as the Vedic religion as is evident
from the numerous references available to us in the Vedas, Puranas, the epics
and also the Bhagavad-Gita (4.7 and 8).
The epic Ramayana is based on the life story of Lord Rama
who was an incarnation or avatar of Lord Vishnu. In Bhagavatapurana and the Mahabharata
we come across the miraculous life and achievements of Lord Krishna who was
also considered to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu only. Most of the Puranas
deal with the accounts of creation of the worlds and a particular incarnation
of God.
Among the Trinity only Lord Vishnu, being the preserver and
upholder of creation, incarnates, to ensure that righteousness and the world
order are well maintained. But whenever there is a disorder that starts
troubling the worlds, He descends directly into a physical body and removes
it. There is a main difference between an incarnation and other manifestations
of God. In an incarnation He retains His full potentialities and consciousness
while assuming the mortal birth and maintains a firm hold over the play of the
gunas of Prakriti (Nature). Some times if the need is not that urgent or
acute, He may either manifest Himself partially in a physical body or may just
materialize without any physical body.
The Puranas describe ten main avatars or incarnations of Lord Vishnu
of which His last incarnation is yet to manifest. The ten incarnations are
briefly described below:
Matsyavatara (The incarnation as a fish): The
purpose of this incarnation was to save Manu (the first born) and the seven
sages from a deluge.
Kurmavatara (The incarnation as a tortoise): The
purpose was to save mount mandara at the time of churning of the oceans by the
demons and the devas for Amrit, the elixir of life.
Varahavatara (The incarnation as a boar): The
purpose was to slay a demon called
Hiranyakasipu and save the earth from flood
waters into which it had submerged.
Narasimhavatara (The incarnation as part man and
part lion): The purpose was to slay Hiranykasipu who was subjecting his son
Prahlada who was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu to great harassment and to
prove to the world that God would be always willing to help His dear devotees.
Vamanavatara (Incarnation as a dwarf brahmin): The
purpose was to assist and help Indra to retain his lordship over the heavens
by eliminating his rival Bali, the famous demon king from the competition.
Parasurama: The purpose was to destroy some warrior
kings (kshatriyas) who were becoming a menace to the society and restore the
social order.
Ramavatara: The purpose was to slay demon king
Ravana who had obtained a boon from Lord Shiva to the effect that no god or
demon or any creature in any of the worlds would be able to kill him. He
forgets to mention the human beings while seeking the boon. Ravana captures
Sita, the wife of Rama, who them proceeds with his brother Lakshmana and with
the help of innumerable forest tribes, releases the world and his own wife
from the clutches of Ravana.
Balarama: He was the elder brother of Sri Krishna.
The main purpose of this incarnation was to kill the demon king Dhenuka, the
ape Dvivida and change the course of Yamuna. The plough was his main weapon
which is suggestive of the fact that probably he played a key role in the
introduction of agriculture among the people.
Srikrishna: The purpose was to restore order by
killing many demon kings who were troubling the earth and also help the
Pandavas of the Mahabharata fame in their against their own cousins the Kurus
headed by the famous warrior and egoistic king Suyodhana or Duryodhana. His
teachings are now available to us in the form of the Bhagavad-Gita, which
provide inspiration to millions of Hindus even today.
Kalki: This incarnation is yet to take place. God
would descend upon the earth on a while horse probably at the end of Kaliyuga
to restore order and destroy evil people whose number would gradually increase
during this phase.
Variations: The above ten incarnations are among the
most acceptable list of Vishnu's incarnations. Some variations are also worth
mentioning. According to some accounts the Great Buddha was also an
incarnation of Lord Vishnu, but this idea is not acceptable to many Buddhists.
Others like Hamsa, Satvata, Yagna, Dattatreya, Vedavyasa are also said to be
His incarnations only and are sometimes included in the list of the first ten.
Among his partial manifestations (amsavataras) the most important are kapila,
Hayagriva, Dhanvantari, Mohini and Naranarayana who are worth mentioning.
Incarnations of Brahma and Shiva: We do not hear
much about the incarnations of either Brahma or Shiva. The reason being that
among the three it is only Lord Vishnu who is the preserver and maintainer of
the creation and whose primary responsibility it is to maintain law and order.
Lord Shiva is also credited with many manifestations in the mortal world, but
they are not referred as incarnations in the strictest sense of the word.
Shakti Incarnations: The incarnation of Lord Vishnu
is mostly concurrent with the incarnation of His consort and principal Shakti,
Shri Lakshmi, the goddess of opulence and abundance. Thus for each of His
incarnation we have corresponding incarnation of this goddess: Padma or Kamala
for Vamana, Dharani for Parasurama, Sita as the consort of Lord Rama, and
Rukmini of Sri Krishna. She is also worshipped as Varahi and Narasimhi in some
parts of India.
Conclusions from the Incarnation: We can draw many
conclusions from the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. They are briefly stated
below:
1. God is not a mere mute witness, but an active and
dynamic principle maintaining a firm hold on the process of His creation.
2. The evil somehow has the tendency to prevail over good
from time to time and cannot be dealt with on our own without the help and
assistance of God.
3. Just as there are incarnations in the external worlds,
there can be incarnations of God within the human consciousness. Sometimes God
may descend into the lower consciousness of a being in His full intensity to
purify him. But this can happen only when there is an intense aspiration for
the divine and a feeling of complete surrender by the lower self.
4. The stories of incarnations help the ordinary mortal to
know how to conduct themselves in their day to day lives. Just as God
incarnates and assumes many forms and roles to help the good and destroy the
unrighteous, man too has to assume many roles in his family to help his
relations and ancestors, and in his society to help the poor and the needy.
5. God is righteous, a wielder of moral law, not a neutral
Being unconcerned with the virtues of the mankind.
Suggested further reading
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