Pt.2.Miracles Sec.2.1

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Dear Bhagavatas,

Presented below is Section 2.1 of Part 2 Miracles from my book "Myths,

Miracles and Mysticism".

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

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Avatars and Miracles

 

God manifests himself by descending down personally with a physical presence

called 'Avatar' for

three purposes as explained by him in Bhagavad Gita ( 4/ 8 )

( i ) Paritraanaaya Saadhunaam : for saving the virtuous

( ii ) Vinaasaaya cha Dushkritaam : for destroying evil and

( iii ) Dharma Samsthaapanaarthaaya : for reestablishing Dharma

 

As stated by him (in BG 4 / 7), he takes Avatars whenever there is steep

decline in Dharma (i.e) beyond tolerable limits.

 

Why Avatars?

 

It may be asked whether the Almighty God cannot carry out all these purposes

by remaining in his high heavens without having to come 'down to earth'. The

answer is yes. He can. But, to give reassurance and instill confidence to the

Sadhus

(virtuous) for whom he would like to reveal himself at 'their level', talking

to them, mingling with them, he comes down to the world and to remind others

like us of the eternal truths and turn our minds inward. Nothing can reinforce

faith and confidence so much as the physical proximity of beatitude which

would impact a reassurance to the virtuous that in spite of the decline in

Dharma and the preponderance of evil, man still has hope to salvage himself.

God descends to earth to give this much needed reassurance in times of crisis.

So, whenever God

descends to earth , the people of that time who have that sacred and

enlivening presence were indeed fortunate to worship him as God.

 

He ' touches down' earth so that we can ' take off ' to his high heavens

He 'demotes' himself to our level so as to ' promote ' us to his level

He 'descends' leaving his high pedastal to help us leave our mundane existence

and ' ascend ' unto him.

He 'steps down' so that we may ' step up '

He ' humbles ' himself to teach us how ' humble' we really are

He manifests himself in 'ridiculous' forms like fish, tortoise, boar,

halflion, dwarf etc to appeal to our ' ridiculous perceptions' and help us to

' sublimate' our lives.

He ' lowers' himself in order to ' lift ' us up.

He ' stoops' to our level so that we might ' rise 'up to his level.

He ' debases' himself in an attempt to ' ennoble' us.

He ' enters' our ' homes' to make us feel ' at home'.

He 'condescends' to make us feel ' worthy' of him.

 

Rama Avatar

 

This God does in two ways. Of the numerous Avatars, those of Rama and Krishna

stand foremost. As Rama, he assumed the role of a man and reflected the mental

afflictions and agitations of man and also showed how to overcome them. By

personal, practical example of ideal conduct, he showed in the Tretayuga, the

way for men to tread on the path of spiritual evolution.On occasions, Rama is

also

known to have performed superhuman feats (e.g)

 

( i ) He not only lifted but also broke Siva's bow that was too heavy for

anyone even to move.

( ii ) He killed the 14,000 strong mighty army of Kara and Dushana single

handed.

( iii ) He pierced with a single arrow a line of seven giant Sal trees to

convince Sugriva.

( iv ) He threw out far beyond sight, the skeleton of Dundhubi which even Vali

could not lift.

( v ) He stepped on a stone and the stone came alive in the form of Ahalya who

was redeemed from a

curse on her by her husband.- a feat that is possible only by the Paramatma.

( vi ) He granted Moksha to the bird king Jatayu, which only the Paramatma

could do.

( v ii) He performed the crowning of Vibhishana, even before the war with

Ravana, indicating his confidence in his own superhuman powers in

vanquishing Ravana. Even if Ravana were to surrender, since Lanka had been

offered to Vibhishana, Rama would have requested Bharata to offer Ayodhya to

Ravana.

( viii ) In the case of Kakasura who tormented Sita, he merely pulled out a

blade of grass and hurled it at him and this chased him around all the worlds

and blinded one of his eyes as a punishment.

 

Compared to the miracles performed by him in Krishaavatara, these may look

less impressive but we should remember that at all times, he endeavoured to

act as on ordinary human being and the feats reckoned by human standards,

stand out to be really superhuman.

 

Krishna Avatar

 

In his Avatar as Krishna in Dwapara yuga, he performed miracles after miracles

to instill confidence in the minds of men that he was very much for them and

with them to take solace and encouragement. On the battlefield of Kurukshetra,

he propounded his Bhagavad Gita in the last verse of which he unequivocally

holds out the assurance - " Having given up all your Dharma, the only course

open to you is to surrender yourself to me and to me alone. If you do this, I

shall absolve you

from all sins and protect you. Have no doubt about this and do not grieve"

 

Some of the miracles performed by him are briefly indicated below:

 

( i ) Even at birth, he was born with four arms holding his conch, club, disc

and lotus flower, fully bedecked, equipped with all the insignia of the

supreme personality of Godhead and in the same effulgent form in which he

shines in his Paramapada. Devaki and Vasudeva, his parents had to request him

to conceal them and assume his form as an ordinary child.

( ii ) As Vasudeva started from his prison cell to switch the baby boy with

the baby girl, Yogamaya born to Yasoda in Gokula, the shackles locking his

hands and feet released, the prison gates opened ajar, the guards went into a

deep stupor and the flodded Yamuna river parted to give way to Vasudeva to

cross the river. Lord Sesha in the form of a serpent spread like an umbrella

his hood over the basket

in which Vasudeva carried the baby to protect him from rain.

( iii ) As an infant, he drank the life force of Puthanai, the demoness who

plotted to kill him with poison smeared over her breast nipples, when she

attempted to breastfeed him like a fond mother.

( iv ) Once, when Yasoda came to know that the child Krishna had eaten clay,

she asked him to open his mouth and show. When he opened his mouth, she saw

the entire universe with its directions, mountains, oceans, rivers, planets,

elements of nature, gods, demigods, all living entities and different forms of

creation. She even saw herself and Krishna opening his mouth as if on a modern

movie scene. Naturally, she was bewildered.

( v ) Once, the demon, Sakataasura lurked in a toy hung over his cradle.

Krishna playfully kicked the toy and killed the demon who fell dead in his

huge original form.

( vi ) Once, a demon , Vatsaasura appeared as a calf and mingled with

Krishna's herd and waited for an oppurtunity to pounce on Krishna. Krishna

caught hold of his hindleg, swirled and hurled it at a woodapple tree in one

of the fruits of which lurked another demon also with the aim of killing

Krishna. Both the demons fell reeling down and were instantly killed.

( vii ) Once, a demon by name Bakaasura took the form of a crane and attacked

Krishna with his sharp and pointed beaks and in fact swallowed him. As he

swallowed, he felt an unbearable burning sensation in his throat and quickly

threw up Krishna. Krishna caught hold of his beaks and bifurcated his mouth

like splitting a reed and killed him.

( viii ) Once, a demon called Aghaasura used his yogic powers of 'mahima',

expanded himself upto about 8 miles and assumed the form of a huge serpent,

opened his mouth like a mountain cave and tried to swallow Krishna and his

cowherd friends. The boys along with the cows entered his mouth but Krishna

enetered last. As he was entering, he immediately began to expand within the

throat of the demon. Choked and suffocated, the demon dropped dead. Krishna

brought all the boys and the cattle out of his mouth.

( ix ) When Dhenukaasura and his fellow demons appearing in the form of

donkeys, prevented people from picking fruits in Talavana forest, , Krishna

and Balarama caught them by their hind legs and whirled them to the palm tree

tops. The demons fell like mountains in their original form and were

decimated.

( x ) When the hydraheaded poisonous snake, Kaalinga was threatening the life

of his peers in a pond, Krishna jumped on its hoods , danced till Kaalinga out

of sheer exhaustion begged to be excused. Krishna asked him to move out to the

sea with his wives and children and retinue.

( xi ) One night, there was a huge forest fire in the place where Krishna and

his friends were resting under a tree. The fire spread all over by the violent

gust of winds threatening to scorch the group.Krishna quietly swallowed up the

whole forest fire as easily as he swallowed butter and saved them.

( xii ) Once, a demon by name ssumed the form of a cowherd boy and joined the

partyof Krishna and his friends waiting for an oppurtunity to kill Krishna and

Balarama. In a game , it was the turn of Pralambaasura to carry Balarama on

his shoulders. And, the demon was happy that his chance had come to kill

Balarama. As he carried Balarama, Balarama became as heavy as a mountain and

literally crushed the demon. The demon assumed his original form. Balarama

struck him on his head with his fist and the demon fell down dead.

( xiii ) When Krishna asked his companions to offer worship to the Govardhan

mountain instead of to Indra, Indra got angry and summoned all the powerful

clouds and asked them to force a heavy downpour. Krishna lifted the huge

mountain and held it on the tip of his little finger as easily as lifting a

mushroom. The torrential downpour continued for a whole week and Krishna held

the mountain for the entire period like an umbrella under which his peers

assembled and were protected. Indra realized his folly and came down on bended

knees begging pardon.

( xiv ) He killed the mighty tusker, Kuvalayaapeedam and the invincible

wrestlers, Mushtika and Chaanura.

( xv ) He finally pulled down the arch villain, Kamsa from his throne and

sitting on his chest banged him with bare fist and finished him.

 

The incidents from (vi ) to (xv) happened when he was a jeuvenile, hardly 8

to 10 years of age.

 

( xvi ) He brought back to life of his Guru's son who had drowned in the sea

long time back.

( xvii ) Similarly, he brought back to life the children ( of a brahmin) who

died soon on birth.

( xviii ) When Draupadi was dragged to the open assembly for being disrobed by

Dussasana, Krishna enclothed her with an endless stream of clothing and saved

her modesty.

( xix ) On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, as he was advising Arjuna on his

duties as a Kshatriya, he revealed his Viswaroopam. Arjuna saw in him the

entire world even as Yasoda saw earlier and thereby instilled confidence in

Arjuna to take up arms again against the Kauravas.

 

There are innumerable other miracles performed by him in this as well as in

other Avatars (e,g) the saving of Gajendra who was caught by a crocodile and

was struggling for life in a tug of war with the crocodile.

 

God in human form is really Superhuman

 

It should be remembered that just because God in his Avatars has taken a human

form and moved with men as such, it does not mean that his body is made of the

stuff we are made of. His form is unique, ' sui generis' called ' Apraakrita

Sarira'. He takes these forms by his divine will (Sankalpa).

 

Since ordinary folk may not recognize his divinity when he acts as 'inter

pares', sometimes he has to perform supernatural feats to show his real super

self. Thus, we find in Rama Avatar, even though he claimed to be a mere human

'Aatmaanam Manusham Manye' , sometimes he did perform superhuman feats. In

Krishna Avatar, though he revealed himself as the supreme Lord by numerous

miracles, he also took care to camouflage them by his yogamaya (power of

illusion) to lull people into taking these incidents as natural.

 

(to be continued)

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