Avatar - Divine Incarnation - Part I

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Recently there have been several comments regarding the Dashavatarams and

particularly on the Parashuramavataram. I place below some views on the avatara

of our Lord Sriman Narayana as obtained through our poorvacharyas.

 

Avataras according to our tradition is a very important manifestation of the

Paramatma and it is a concrete expression of the divine krupa or daya (grace)

of the Lord. The Lord wants to commune with His devotees who thirst for His

living presence (eg. Gopis, Rishis of dandaka vana, Akrura, Malakara etc.).

Ramanujacharya opens his Geetha Bhashya with a similar sentiment

(...Niratishaya Soundarya Soushilyadhigunaganaa vishkaarena Akrura Malakaradhin

Parama Bhaghavatan krutva...). Swami Vedanta Desika deals with the Avatara of

the Lord at least on three of his works- Rahasyatraya saram, Dashavatara

stotram, and Daya shathakam. In his magnum opus Rahasyatraya saram, Swami says

it is essential for a prapanna to understand the avatara rahasyam. Only

through constant contemplation of the glories (Vibhutis) of the Lord can one

reinforce Mahaviswasam which is an essential angam of sharanagathi or

prapatti. Swami summarizes the avatara rahasyam thus: (1) avatara of the Lord

is not a Indra-jalam and it is sathyam (2) The Lord's sarira is made of

suddha-satvam (3) There is no contraction in His gnana during the avatara (4)

Establishing dharma and offering protection to sadhus is His main mission (5)

He is not bound by Karma and He takes the Avatara because of His own Sankalpam.

 

Swami Vedanta Desika's dasavatara stotram is very popular among all the

vaishnavas. That, Swami Himself attaches great importance to the Lord's

avatars can be seen from the phala shruti (the 13th sloka) of the stotram. I

have a tamil translation of this wonderful work and hopefully in the near

future I will have it translated in English and bring it to the kind attention

of all of you. The purpose of parashuramavataram is explained thus: The Lord

came and moved about as Parashurama for exterminating the haughty kshatriyas

who had become wicked and tyrannical.

 

In the Daya shathakam, Swami Desikan says Daya is the root cause of all the

avatarams. 10 slokas are exclusively devoted for explaining the role of Daya

Devi in incarnating the Lord on the earth at times of crisis.

 

I would also like to discuss some of my own reflection on the avatars. We

learn that some of the avatars of the Lord co-existed. For eg. Parashurama &

Rama; Balarama & Krishna. This is somewhat intriguing. The Upanishads say

that a yogi like Saubhari could simultaneously animate several bodies i.e. he

could live through several bodies. Our Lord is Yogesvaresvara and therefore

nothing is impossible for Him. The fact that the Lord has descended on this

earth does not create a vacancy in Vaikuntha. We also see that in several

instances in His avatars the Lord assumes certain limitation on His sarva

shakthitvam For eg. Krishna withdrawing from Jarasanadha, Parashurama unable

to defeat Bheeshma etc. I think all these are Lord's leela (sport). The Lord

is beyond human reasoning.

 

I will conclude this article by presenting the historical view of the avatars

in the next part.

 

to be concluded..

 

Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan