The Avatar: God in Human Form

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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