Excellent Post - The Avatar: God in Human Form

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A good and a concise message. Worth reading.

 

Thanks,

 

Rajan

 

 

--- jagbir singh <adishakti_org wrote:

> The Avatar: God in Human Form

>

> Swami Shivananda, one of Ramakrishna's disciples,

> said: " If God does

> not come down as a human being, how will human

> beings love him? That

> is why He comes to human beings as a human being.

> People can love Him

> as a father, mother, brother, friend—they can take

> any of these

> attitudes. And He comes to each in whatever form

> that person loves. "

>

> Throughout the ages, spiritual renewal has come to

> humanity through

> God manifesting in human form. The Sanskrit word

> " avatar " literally

> means " descent of God. " Most of the world's

> religions have been given

> impetus and direction by these spiritual giants—the

> incarnations,

> prophets, and messengers of God. Jesus and Buddha,

> Rama and Krishna,

> Moses and Muhammad, Chaitanya and Ramakrishna—all

> have been

> torchbearers in the world of spirituality, pouring

> new energy into

> religions that were sliding into hypocrisy and

> self-indulgence.

>

> The Bhagavad Gita declared thousands of years ago:

>

> When goodness grows weak,

> When evil increases,

> I make myself a body.

> In every age I come back

> To deliver the holy,

> To destroy the sin of the sinner,

> To establish righteousness.

>

> One of the great distinctions between Western and

> Eastern thought is

> that the West tends to think in terms of linear

> time—the world

> and human history having a definitive beginning,

> middle, and end. On

> this horizontal time line, God has specific,

> historical

> interventions. In contrast, the East thinks in terms

> of great cycles:

> ascension and descension, creation and destruction,

> growth and decay;

> these cycles are seen as continually repeating waves

> in an eternal

> cosmic process. Civilizations, religions, and

> individuals are all

> part of this ongoing cycle. The appearance of the

> avatar is essential

> to this eternal movement of spiritual decline

> followed by

> regeneration.

>

> According to Vedanta, spiritual truth is eternal and

> universal: no

> particular religion or sect can have a monopoly on

> it. The truth that

> Christ discovered is the same truth that was

> revealed to the sages of

> the Upanishads; it is the same truth that Krishna

> and Buddha taught

> as well. Gautama said that there were many Buddhas

> before him, and in

> the years to come there will be many more

> manifestations of God on

> earth.

>

> Is there a purpose in all this? Yes. First, every

> avatar has a

> specific message to impart to humanity: Muhammad

> taught equality and

> the brotherhood of humanity; Christ revealed the

> primacy of God's

> love over the letter of the Law; Buddha rejected

> priestcraft and

> taught people to be lamps unto themselves; Krishna

> taught mental

> equanimity and detached action; Ramakrishna taught

> the ideal of the

> harmony of religions. Each incarnation has a message

> particular to

> the age in which he appears.

>

> The second reason why the avatar incarnates is to

> reestablish the one

> eternal religion—spiritual truth. While every avatar

> has specific

> teachings, all incarnations come to pour spiritual

> fire into a world

> sinking into religious mediocrity. No matter where

> the avatar appears

> on earth, the entire world is uplifted and

> regenerated by his advent.

>

> http://www.vedanta.org/wiv/philosophy/avatar.html

>

>

 

 

 

 

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