Why you shouldn’t look for superhuman in Avatars?

[Guest guest]

Why you shouldn’t look for superhuman in Avatars

Life is incomplete without union with God. It is quite natural that a matured mind and a receptive heart strive for this union. Since long, philosophies were born, debates happened, music, art and literature evolved from this very need. Religions, philosophies, practices, customs and austerities have all pointed to one thing: Union with the Divine.

On an average, the person who wakes up to suffering in his life wants to be free from it. For this, he looks to the superpower of creation. The more he looks at the misery and shortcomings in his life, the farther away he feels from the Divinity which is his very nature. His heart yearns to establish contact with the Supreme.

Since ages, we have been striving to reduce the gap between ourselves and God. There are two ways to do this: One way is to elevate humankind towards Divinity — this is called Siddha, and the person who achieves this state is believed to have attained perfection. The second way is to bring God to human level in avatar form. Here, Divinity manifests itself for the sake of humankind. So man rising up to God is Siddha; God coming down, because he cares for you, and wants to communicate directly with you, is avatar.

Avatar is God in human form, and in that humanness, you can get a glimpse of Divinity. In the Puranas, all the devas are depicted with human emotions and tendencies. They experience ‘normal’ feelings of anger, love and resentment.

Rama and Krishna went through a gamut of human experience in order to make us realise that God need not be a distant concept; God can be one among us. So don’t look for the superhuman in an avatar.

The concept of avatar is common in the East in countries like India, China, Japan, Korea and Nepal. “nRupO naarayaNO Harihiâ€: The king is regarded as the avatar of Vishnu. vaidyO naarayaNO harihiâ€: The doctor, too, is venerated as Vishnu-avatar. In the West, the Divine Messenger aids spiritual evolution. In the East, there is greater intimacy between humans and God. Hence the avatar is like a mother going personally to her child; there is greater emotional bonding.

Spiritual evolution through heartfelt, personal devotion is typically eastern whereas the western perspective is based on the concept of a messenger and hence is necessarily more formal. The bhaktas and Sufis were more comfortable with the idea of avatar. For an intimate relationship, God comes directly. Your love for God becomes authentic when you are assured of His love for you. In the Bhagavad-Gita, it is Krishna who first tells Arjuna: “You are dear to meâ€, which enabled Arjuna to surrender.

Wherever you feel immense respect, wherever you get a glimpse of Divinity, know that it is avatar. Avatar lies in those who recognise — and entire creation comes alive as Divinity. This is the stage before the awareness of “I Amâ€.

The entire phenomenon of creation is the descent of consciousness in various names and forms. The whole purpose of avatar is to make you realise that you are part of Him. Avatar is not there to charm you but to calm you; to make you return home. And to make you realise you are that. Once you recognise the avatar, suddenly, entire creation is filled with ‘that’ and you are that. The descent of God is to make you realise that there is neither up nor down. There is no high or low, ascension or descent.

(By Sri Sri Ravishankar)