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But in practice, it is only those forms in which the
essential qualities of God are most manifest that are regarded as the
main Avatars. In the triune aspects of God as the Creator, Preserver and
Destroyer, it is mostly as the Preserver that God takes up finite forms
to protect God’s devotees from the evil designs and acts of
wrong-doers and to establish righteous norms and values of life,
especially human life (Gita : Chap 4 Sloka 7). So the term ‘Avatars
of God’ refers mainly to the ten Avatars of Vishnu also known as Hari,
Narayana etc.
Because of having a definite form, the Avatar is more
easily comprehensible to the human mind and more convenient to
concentrate upon and worship than the formless God. And remember, dear
reader, the avatars
descend into forms only to help humanity to ascend into the higher
states of Consciousness, Bliss and ever–expanding love!
That is why in Srimad Bhagavatam it is advised to study (and sing) about
the Avatars of God daily and such a study, it is asserted, not
only leads the person to the highest state ultimately, but as a kind of
bonus, helps in the realisation of his deepest wishes and goals! (Ref: Bhagavatam
8:24:60). What an incentive! In the Gita also, the Lord assures
us that those who properly study and understand the lives and activities
of Avatars, will not be compelled to be born again (due to the laws of
karma) ! (Gita: 4:9). |
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How is this brought about? The Lord explains this in
the tenth chapter through verses 9 and 10: (Chap 4) Those who study,
think and talk about the Avatar with love are bestowed with the power of
discrimination and illuminating insights about the divine which
gradually leads them to cut all ties that unnecessarily bind and
imprison them, and thereby attain freedom from the cycle of
karma-governed births and deaths.
So, dear Reader, let us now dwell with devotion over
the ten main Avatars of God: the King Parikshit is said to have attained
liberation from the compulsory cycle of births and deaths by listening
to these stories of Avatars with intense devotion and deep
concentration. You too can, if you emulate him! |
| The modern
tradition is to describe the Fish Avatar first because the fish,
tortoise, boar, lion-man, short man, wild man, ideal man, divine man
sequence appeals to the modern man enamoured with the concept of
evolution of man from the monkey! In the present context too that order
is going to be followed, not because it is the one adopted in the
original Bhagavatam but because it is easier to remember and
because the accent in this account is not historical or chronological
correctness but the lessons which we can learn from the Avatars and
devotees of God. Let us seek to apply them in our own lives and benefit
thereby.
Before beginning the stories an
oft-repeated doubt can be cleared: People ask as to how the great God
can descend to such low animal forms such as the fish, boar etc. They
must understand God’s love for men rather than be aware of His powers
only. A man may be a judge of the highest court
in the land or the president of his country and yet does not he oblige
his grand-child by crawling like a horse or an elephant and taking the
child on his back for a jolly ride?
Lord Krishna bore the sandals
of His devotee, Draupadi (the wife of Pandavas of the famous epic
Mahabharata) on His head once.The shoe-clad feet of His devotee was on
his shoulders when He acted as his chariot-driver! Rama ate the fruits
already bitten into and tasted by His devotee, Sabari! So instead of
decrying such assumption of animal forms by God, let us marvel at the
supreme love of God for His devotees that makes him to do anything for
love – the love of a thousand human mothers! |
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Instead of derisively laughing at such ‘descents’,
let us cry in gratitude and love at the extent to which our Lord God
comes to help us or to lead us and to enlighten us.
Indeed in our own time, Bhagawan Baba has assumed the
form of a snake, of a tribal man, of an old villager, of an African, of
an electrician in a running train
etc. in different circumstances to help or please the devotees! He could
have been born in a royal family or in a very educated and wealthy
family in one of capital cities of the world but chose to be born in
the hamlet of Puttaparthi! And that hamlet is fast becoming the
spiritual capital of the World! |
| Coming back to
the stories of Avatars, let us consider the Fish Avatar
first. (It is closely parallel to the Story of Noah’s Ark in the Bible
and the Qur-on!) The Lord appears as a small fish in a river and gets
into the water-pot of a king by name Satyavrata (one who always abides
by TRUTH) ruling over a south Indian kingdom. He grows bigger and bigger
very fast until the king has to leave the fish in the ocean as requested
by it! The king realises that it is not an ordinary fish that he has
come by but the Lord in that form and prays to know the purpose of the
Avatar. The Fish (actually a whale) informs him that soon there would be
a deluge when the whole of the earth will be submerged in the waters and
that He should save the best men, animals and plants for post-deluge
life on earth in a ship that would be kept afloat by the huge fish
Avatar in spite of the enormous waves in the ocean. The king abided by
the timely advice of the Lord and outlived the deluge by His Grace. The
form of the fish was assumed for the simple reason that it was the most
appropriate one to save the ship carrying the cream of humanity. |
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| Next,
let us briefly dwell on the Wild Boar Avatar There was a
time when the ‘earth’ was submerged in the oceans by a demon-king HIRANYAKSHA
(which means one whose eyes are only on Gold or material
wealth and not on the wholesome welfare of human beings). He symbolises
perhaps mankind dominated by the desire for material wealth alone. The
Lord appears in the form of a tiny boar and grows and grows into a
sky-high wild boar and brings up the earth from the waters and
incidentally kills Hiranyaksha. It is significant that this Avatar is
extolled by the gods as the ‘Yagjna Varaha’ ie., the wildboar who
causes and protects and patronises sacrifices and activities aimed at
the welfare of all in the universe. In other words, the
antidote to the ‘gold-driven’ humanity is the persistent endeavours
of a section of humanity to engage in sacrifices and activities,
selflessly aiming at the all-round
welfare of all in the universe – humans, plants, animals, invisible
beings etc. Just as the initial form of this Avatar was tiny (it is said
to have emerged from the nose of the creator!), the number of such
people might be initially very small but would grow and grow in strength
and number in course of time, enough to prevent the destruction of
higher values and norms and to kill the demon of material greed and
material myopia.
Thirdly, dear Reader, let us study the
Tortoise Avatar at some length: This is because it is the only
Avatar mentioned in the Arati song sung at the end of Sai Bhajans!
(Ref: Mandara giridhari in the last stanza! It refers to this
Avatar only!) |
| It so happened
that a great saint had worshipped the Mother form of God and as a gift
from Her, got a beautiful and divine garland. Being a saintly person, he
wanted to present it to someone who could use the benefits it can
bestow, for the highest good of all. So he decided to give it to Indra,
the king of gods. He happened just then to be riding the white elephant
of heaven and was coming towards him. But when offered, Indra who had
grown proud and careless due to his divine powers, instead of getting
down and accepting it with gratitude, asked the elephant to take it! It
did, but not conscious of its value, threw it on the road and trampled
on it. The Saint realised that the king of the
gods was no longer fit to rule the heavens having lost higher values and
higher consciousness. So
he cursed Indra to deprive him of his special powers. The news of the
loss of special powers (due to the neglect of higher values and
righteous conduct) reached the demons and they invaded the heavens
boldly. Indra has to run away and seek refuge at the feet of Vishnu.
Vishnu points out at the repeated tendency of Indra to become proud,
deviate from the norms of right conduct etc and rather than counsel
short term remedies, advises him to seek a permanent solution, namely
the obtaining of Amrit that will bestow immortality and thus
invincibility from demonic forces. |
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However the Amrit had to be obtained only by
churning the ocean of milk by means of Mandara giri (Mandara
mountain) which alone can serve as the churning rod! The rope used to
rotate the mountain had to be strong enough and the Lord himself
suggested the use of Vasuki, the great snake for the purpose!
The Lord also offers another piece of advice: The
churning of the ocean of milk is too big a job to be handled by the gods
alone and so it is necessary to somehow make the demons join in the
effort so that the gods and
demons can hold the two ends of the ‘rope’ and churn with the help
of the Mandara mountain. The gods realise the inevitability of such a
joint effort and manage to persuade the demons to join them. After all
becoming immortal ensures invincibility and external victory! |
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Soon both parties find that the mountain tends to
sink down and stay put on the ocean floor rather than being suspended
and rotatable! Smiling at their frustration, the
benevolent Lord assumes the form of a giant Tortoise
(the hard back of the tortoise
being appropriate to bear the heavy burden of the mountain) getting
under the mountain, bears it upon himself as the base and helps the
churning and the ultimate production of the immortalising nectar.
The message is clear enough: Good and Evil are part
of life. One who is born in good circumstances can not automatically
stay good unless he is ever-vigilant and strives to keep up his
goodness. If one develops the ego and presumes
that "Once being good" will ensure "life time
rewards" of power and pelf, one is liable to lose the same pretty
soon. |
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Good people as well as the Evil ones seek ultimately
only immortality ie., self-realisation which is the result of meditation
(symbolised by the mountain known as achala in Sanskrit language
meaning something that is unmoving or undisplaceable) during which one
remains as an objective (impartial and detached) witness to one’s good
and bad thoughts and tendencies in the mind (symbolised by the milky
ocean). Ultimately one attains the goal only by the constant help of the
Lord without whose Grace in appropriate forms, our efforts can not be of
any avail. With his grace, we can use the dualities of Good and Bad,
pleasure and pain etc., with proper perspective, to aid the process of
Realisation of the Self or God. Thus the
dualities of life help rather than hamper the ultimate and deepest needs
of human beings.
The second part of this story
involving the tortoise Avatar is even more interesting and has a
valuable lesson to offer: After the emergence of the immortalising
nectar form the night-long churning, the demons throw away all rules of
fair play and instead of sharing it with the gods, seek to appropriate
for themselves the whole of it. But the selfish greed and jealousy of
the demons gains the upper hand and not one of them gets a single drop
of it as each of them fights for getting it all for himself. The
chastened gods realise the futility of such a fight and remain calm
praying for the Grace of the Ever-just lord.
The lord then takes up the form of an extraordinarily
attractive woman (Mohini Avatar) and walks among the demons. Greed
and jealousy give way to lust! The demons are highly enamoured by
the physical charms of the divine damsel. Bewitched by her, the demons
agree to her suggestion to sit in a row and receive portions of the
nectar from her hands. All through this drama, the gods are silent
observers and on a hint from the Mohini, sit in a row opposite to that
of the demons. Even when the demons are all agog at her physical charms
and carried away by her sweet smile and words, the Lord distributes the
nectar on the sly to the gods! The author of Srimad Bhagavatam
comments: The place, the time, the means, the action and the effort are
all the same in the case of the gods and demons. But the result was
different: In the case of the gods who were devotees and who remained
disciplined and calm (with faith and patience) the nectar was the
reward; in the case of demons blinded by greed and jealousy and lust,
temporary visual pleasures were the only reward! (Ref:
Bhagavatam:8:9:28)
So, good results follow only when one’s efforts are
complemented by the Grace of God, obtained by constant adherence to His
teachings, steadfast faith and patience. This point is missed by many
and they go on trying to win peace, happiness, love and wisdom by their
own efforts without devotion and surrender to God only to end up with
power and pleasures but not peace and happiness.
— Om Poornananda |
