Article sent from The Hindu on indiaserver.com

[Guest guest]

=============================================================

This article is emailed to you by Ram Chandran ( chandran )

=============================================================

Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Purpose of God's manifestations

 

CHENNAI, JUNE 6. Scriptural texts describe how the Supreme Being,

who is birthless, incarnates in the world by assuming different

forms from time to time. The term ``avatara'' connotes that He

descends from a higher to a lower level. This is to enable man to

ascend to the level of the Divine. The Bhagavata Purana mentions

22 manifestations of the Lord among which 10 are major ones. The

instances when He assumed the human form, Rama and Krishna, are

held as complete (Purna) manifestations.

 

The Lord Himself has revealed the timing and purpose of His

incarnations in the Bhagavad Gita, ``Whenever righteousness is on

the decline and unrighteousness is in the ascendant, then I

manifest. For the protection of the virtuous, for the extirpation

of evil-doers and for establishing Dharma on a firm footing, I am

born from age to age.'' Though mankind has benefited from all the

incarnations of the Lord, the Rama and Krishna avataras are very

significant for humanity. Among these two, it is Ramavatara which

is closer to man as the Lord's divine nature is relegated to the

background in the incarnation. It is His human nature which is

emphasised in the Ramayana and in fact, the opening verse which

is in a form of a question raised by Valmiki to Narada projects

the hero of the epic as the ideal human being.

 

In the case of Krishnavatara every incident compels attention on

Krishna's superhuman feats. While perusal of the texts glorifying

Lord Krishna enhances devotion to Him and also blesses one with

wisdom, it is the Ramayana which is a veritable guide on human

conduct in the world. One can peruse the epic from two

standpoints - as the life of the Lord in His incarnation or the

life of an ideal human being. The first approach distanced one by

emphasising His divinity and it is the latter which can give an

insight into the real purpose of this incarnation and enabled the

person to actualise his humane qualities, said Sri C. L.

Ramakrishnan in his discourse.

 

The Ramayana highlights 16 virtuous traits of Rama and the first

question of Valmiki ``Who can be full of virtues in this world at

present?'' according to the commentator refers to the quality of

compassion which is the most important of all of them. Man

elicits divine grace only because of the Lord's compassion and

not because he merits His grace. It is His compassionate nature

which enables the Lord to pardon a devotee's lapses. Likewise,

another virtue highlighted in the epic is Rama's capacity to

forgive. In the case of the ocean-king when he refused to heed

Rama's request to give way to the army He became angry but He was

quick to pardon him also.

 

Copyrights: 2000 The Hindu & Tribeca Internet Initiatives Inc.

 

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly

prohibited without the consent of The Hindu & Tribeca Internet Initiatives Inc.