Saturday 20 June 2015

Avatars


Lord Krishna and Maha Vishnu are interchangeably used to denote one and the same God. Maha Vishnu took the form of Krishna when he incarnated on earth to destroy evil and to liberate the devotees from the cycle of births and deaths.

In one of the shlokas of the Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna says,

“Pari-tra-naaya saadhu-naam vina-shaya cha dush-kritam,
Dharma-sanstha-panar-thaya sam-bha-vami yuge yuge”

It means,
To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I manifest myself, millennium after millennium.

-Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4 Shloka 8

Maha Vishnu is said to appear on earth in ten forms known as the Dashavatars – Dasha meaning Ten and Avatar meaning form. Before his avatar as Lord Krishna, Maha Vishnu also incarnated as :

A fish-  Matsya  Avatar who rescued the first man Manu from a great deluge.

A turtle – Kurma Avatar who bore the mount Mandara on his back during the Samudra manthan

A boar – Varaha Avatar who restored mother Earth after rescuing her from the demon Hiranyaksha

Half lion and half man- Narasimha Avatar who protected his devotees from Hiranyakashyapu

A Dwarf- Vamana Avatar who destroyed the pride of King Mahabali

A Rishi – Parashurama Avatar who is one of the saptarishis

A King – Rama Avatar who defeated the mighty Ravana

A cowherd – Krishna Avatar who destroyed the evil Kamsa and many other evil doers.

There are two more avatars of Maha Vishnu described after this-

A yogi- Buddha Avatar

Eternity- Kalki Avatar. This reincarnation is yet to appear and is foretold to appear at the end of Kali Yuga

These may just appear as stories to some, while to others these represent a sacred part of their religion. There may be debates on whether these incidents actually took place or were only a figment of someone’s elaborate imagination. We could never have definite answers!

But there are things beyond religion and beyond facts and that is what forms the basis of our life.

Scientist tell us about Darwin’s theory of evolution, where life that began from a fish, evolved to become a man over many many centuries. The Dashavatars of Maha Vishnu are said to mimic what scientist are telling us today. This means that our ancestors knew things that we are only discovering now.

That is precisely the reason I believe, these avatars tell us something beyond the stories, they teach us lessons beyond what is visible on the surface. We just need to scratch them and read the hidden meanings.

Jai Shri Krishna!




1 comment:

  1. Impressed with the way you have connected Darwin's theory with mythology.
    Waiting to read more of Krishna.

    ReplyDelete