All about Avatars

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

 

 

All About Avatars

 

 

What is the most important difference between the Lord and ourselves? This may

appear to be a rather naïve and simplistic question and a rhetorical one at

that, not really in need of an answer. The differences between Emperuman and

ourselves are so vast, so many and so unbridgeable, that it seems futile to

embark upon such an enquiry. However, at least for academic interest, it is

worthwhile looking into how He differs from us. While the aspects of divergence

are indeed many, one in particular is extremely significant and interesting, not

to say rewarding too. We are told that one, who understands this particular

distinction between the Jeevatma and the Paramatma, is freed of his mortal

coils, never to be enshackled again.

 

 

 

To understand this specific aspect of difference between the Lord and ourselves,

we must first study an aspect of identity between the two. Both, viz., the

Supreme Lord and we insignificant mortals, are born time and again in this

mundane world. As far as we are concerned, we are caught up in the bottomless

cesspool of Samsara, sucking us down each time we try to get out of it. Despite

our occasional and feeble efforts to rid ourselves of our mortal shackles during

each birth, we fall again and again helplessly into the SamsAra sAgaram. The

moment one birth is over, the soul has to hop into another waiting body, leaving

its former lifeless shareeram behind. There appears to be no way out of this

maze, which keeps us meandering for innumerable lifetimes. " Piravi Perum Kadal "

is how Valluvar describes this interminable cycle of births and deaths,

attesting to its depth, breadth, vastness and impossibility of surmounting.

" Punarapi jananam, punarapi maraNam " , laments another worthy, referring to the

monotonous regularity with which birth and death occur. The worthlessness of

such an existence is brought out by Azhwars in all its despicability-

 

 

 

" pirandum setthum nindru idarum ip pEdamai "

 

" avattamE piravi tandAi "

 

" mAri mAri pala pirappum pirandu " etc.

 

 

 

If this is our plight, it appears that the Lord is not much better off. We hear

from several impeccable sources that He too is born in this world, not once or

twice, but innumerable times. We can't believe our ears-the Lord, and being born

here, just like ourselves, sporting a mortal form like us! And being born to

human mothers, after a ten-month imprisonment in their wombs! And dying too

occasionally, just like we mortals do! He displays extremely human emotions

during His sojourn on earth, as we too do.

 

 

 

We thus see that just like us, Emperuman too is born in this world. There are a

number of scriptural texts, which attest to the Lord taking birth amidst us,

despite His exalted stature. Here is one from the Purusha Suktam, acclaimed to

be the essence of all Shruti- " ajAyamAnO bahudhA vijAyatE " . This vAkya tells us

that the Lord, though birthless, is born many a time. Sri Nammazhwar, in his

faithful transcription of Vedas, renders the same thus- " Pirappil pal piravi

PerumAn " . And Emperuman Himself tells Arjuna in the Gita that He is indeed born

many a time, despite being birthless, immutable and the Lord of all-

 

 

 

" ajOpi san avyayAtmA, bhootAnAm IsvarOpi san

 

Prakritim svAm adhishtAya sambhavAmi Atma mAyayA "

 

 

 

Sri Nammazhwar is moved beyond measure by the Lord taking birth as a mere fish,

boar, lion and turtle, despite being the exalted Lord of the

Celestials- " ennindra yOniyumAi pirandAi imayOr talaivA! "

 

 

 

Lest we be misled, by this apparent identity between the Lord and ourselves,

into believing that He is no better than us, let us consider in what respects

His births differ from ours.

 

 

 

1. Cause-We are born because our unending baggage of Karma pushes us again

and again into mortal coils, to experience the fruits, good and bad, of our

deeds. We have absolutely no choice in the matter, nor can we refrain from being

born or to take a sabbatical in between two births. The inexorable rotation of

the Karma Chakram ensures that we are endlessly imprisoned in our mundane

shackles.

 

 

 

The Lord, on the other hand, is born out of His own sweet will. There is

absolutely no compulsion for Him to take birth, nor is He subject to any

external influence in this regard. When He is born in this world, it is because

He wants to, not because He has to. " IcchA griheeta abhimatOru dEham " says Sri

Koorattazhwan, attesting to the absolutely voluntary nature of the Lord's

avatArAs.

 

 

 

2. Purpose-We undergo the phenomena of endless births, so that we can work

off some of the accumulated baggage of Karma. However, in doing so, we tend to

increase our burden through uninformed action. There is thus no noble purpose to

our lives.

 

 

 

In contrast, the Lord has a three-fold and exalted purpose to all His noble

births, as He Himself narrates in the Gita-

 

 

 

" ParitrANAya sAdhUnAm, vinAsAya cha dushkritAm

 

Dharma samstApanArtthAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE "

 

 

 

The first and foremost mission of Emperuman is the protection of the saintly,

who know of no other refuge than the Lord. If it becomes necessary in this

process, the Lord also destroys the evil-minded, which, however, affords Him

little pleasure. A third purpose to the Lord's births is the reestablishment of

Righteousness on a firm footing. We are told that there was a fourth aim too, in

the NrisimhAvatAra-that of proving the words of His ardent devotee to be true

( " Satyam vidhAtum nija bhritya bhAshitam " ). Sri PrahlAda had declared to his

sceptical father that Sri Hari did indeed inhabit all beings and objects,

including a pillar or an insignificant blade of grass. And when the asurA smote

the palace pillar to test the truth of his credulous son's words, Sri Nrisimha

emerged therefrom the very same second, just to prove His devotee's words true.

 

 

 

3. Periodicity- " ShatAyur vai Purusha: " says the Shruti, pegging the human

lifespan at a hundred years. There are instances of people living beyond a

hundred, but they are rare. As such, even if one is able to live for a full

hundred years, one has to be necessarily reborn at least once a century.

 

With the Lord, however, it is different-He is born only once in a Yugam

( " sambhavami yugE yugE " )-roughly every 900000 years, on an average, allowing for

the differing durations of various yugAs. Sri Ramanuja adds, however, that there

is no fixed periodicity to the Lord's avatArAs-He is born as and when necessary,

sometimes twice or more in the same Yugam and sometimes not at all during a

particular Yugam.

 

 

 

4. Effect-Each new birth only adds to our woes and to our already

unbearable baggage of dastardly deeds, with the result that the Soul is

progressively clouded by successive layers of KArmic dirt, becoming totally

unrecognisable, vis-à-vis its original luminous, wise and blissful self.

 

The Lord, however, adds more and more glory to Himself, with every avatAra. From

each such sojourn on earth, His splendour increases manifold and He emerges with

immeasurably greater grandeur every time He takes an avatAra- " navO navO bhavati

jAyamAna: " says the Shruti.

 

 

 

5. Form-The form we take in each birth is dictated by our Karma. Though we

are human beings in this birth, we may very well be trees or frogs in our next,

depending on the composition of our deeds and misdeeds.

 

Emperuman takes the form He wishes to, whether it be a fish, boar, or

Magnificent Monarch. We only have to look again at Sri Koorattazhwan's tribute

mentioned above, to confirm that all the Lord's forms are of His own choice.

 

6. Timing-For us, there is no particular time for birth. As soon as one

life ends, we are automatically pushed into another body and birth. The Lord

tells us that He is born as and whenever Dharma is debilitated and adharma rears

its ugly head menacingly-

 

 

 

" YadA yadA hi dharmasya glAni: bhavati BhArata!

 

abhyuttAnam adharmasya, tadA AtmAnam srijAmyaham "

 

 

 

7. Company-When we come to think of it, the Soul has to plough a lonely furrow,

having none to accompany it on its births. Though each birth brings us new

relationships in the form of mother, father, wife, sons and so on, essentially

all these arise from physical relationships, which do not exist in the soul.

 

 

 

The Lord, however, is accompanied on all earthly sojourns by His beloved

Consort, who never forsakes His side. Whatever role He adopts, Sri Mahalakshmi

dons a supplementary and complementary role, eminently in accordance with Her

Husband's. We have this on good authority, that of Swami Desikan- " yat dharmai:

iha dharmiNI viharatE nAnAkriti: nAyikA " .

 

 

 

8. Mutual Utility-We scarcely achieve anything during our births. Even if we

do, we are of hardly any utility to Emperuman. The Lord, on the other hand, is

born every time specifically in an attempt to ensure that we are not

reborn- " uyiraLippAn ennindra yOniyumAi pirandAi imayOr talaivA! " exclaims Sri

Nammazhwar, marvelling at the Lord's penchant for undertaking an avatAra, solely

for the purpose of emancipating as many He can.

 

 

 

9. The Exception- " Whoever is born must die: and as surely as that, whoever

dies must be reborn " says the Gita ( " JAtasya hi dhruvO mrityu:, dhruvam janma

mritasya cha " ). Till the very last of our Karma is worked off or is pardoned by

the Lord, we have to keep on being born and dying. The Lord, however, is an

exception to the general rule of the dead being reborn and the living destined

to die. Birth or death is absolutely of His choice-He comes into the mundane

world or returns to His permanent abode at Sri Vaikuntam, as He pleases.

 

 

 

Having considered some of the differences between our births and His, it would

be interesting for us to look at some of the aspects of the Lord's avatArAs.

 

 

 

1. How many avatArAs have been there so far? From childhood, we have been

hearing of the DasAvatArAs and would be inclined to think that the Lord has come

down to the earth ten times in all, as is evident from the following sloka-

 

 

 

" Matsya: KoormO VarAhascha NArasimha: atha VAmana:

 

RAmO RAmacha RAmascha Krishna: Kalki: iti tE dasa "

 

 

 

(Incidentally, this sloka also proves wrong, those who contend that Buddha was

one of the Lord's own avatArAs).

 

 

 

This, however, is not correct, for Emperuman Himself tells us that His

avatArAs are not merely ten, but " many " . The fact that the usually precise Lord

doesn't care to mention a number, is indicative of the fact that the avatArAs

are indeed countless. This is borne out by the Gita vAkyA, " bahooni mE

vyateetAni janmAni tava cha Arjuna! " . The independent Shruti also attests to

this fact, by employing almost identical words- " ajAyamAnO bahudhA vijAyatE " . We

thus have to conclude that while the DasAvatArAs are the principal ones that the

Lord took, there are also significant others like HayagrIva, Hamsa, Hari and

innumerable others, assumed by Emperuman for similar purposes. The popularity of

the DasAvatArAs is attested by the fact that Swami Desikan considered these ten

avatArAs to be significant enough to compose a separate stOtra on the same.

However, his equal reverence to other avatArAs is brought out by his Hayagreeva

Stotram. The PAncharAtra records several of the Lord's less-known avatArAs like

RAhujit, Purukutsa, Rishabha, JanArdana, et al.

 

 

 

The same Swami Desikan indicates the Vibhava avatArAs as " thity-odd " ( " Muppatthu

chilvAnam " ) in Srimad RahasyatrayasAram. This is based on the varying number

quoted in the PAncharAtra texts. While the VishvaksEna SamhitA puts the number

at thirty ( " Shat trimsat bhEda bhinnAstu PadmanAbhadhikA: smritA: " ), the

Ahirbudhnya SamhitA says that avatArAs are 39 ( " VibhavA: PadmanAbhAdyA:

trimsascha nava chaiva hi " ). He also says that while these are principal, there

are innumerable auxiliary avatArAs of the Lord.

 

 

 

2. Sometimes, Emperuman doesn't undertake a full-scale avatArA, but enters

already existing JeevAtmAs and achieves His purpose through them. Examples are

Sri ParasurAma and Sri Krishna DvaipAyana (VyAsa). These avatArAs were

undertaken by injecting His power into existing JeevAs, for achieving specific

purposes. While in the ParasurAma avatAra it was the annihilation of the corrupt

and cruel ruling class, thereby affording relief to the populace, in the case of

Sri Vyasa, it was for the purpose of dividing the endless Vedas into four

suitable parts for convenient study and for the authorship of Sri MahAbhArata

and the BrahmaSUtrAs.

 

 

 

3. We often confront a question from the cynical-If Rama and Krishna were indeed

the Lord Himself, why should they be subject to pain, sorrow and distress on

several occasions? Isn't Emperuman, by His very nature, beyond all things bad

and sorrowful? And if He does indeed suffer like ordinary mortals, how are we to

attach credence to His supremacy?

 

 

 

Swami Desikan explains that the Lord, as required by the occasion and as

warranted by circumstances, conceals or exhibits certain of His traits. It is

for the actor to display appropriate emotions and actions as warranted by the

scene and the script. Similarly, Emperuman too hides His supremacy and affects

to be an ordinary mortal, during the Rama and Krishna avatArAs. The Prince of

Ayodhya, who considered Himself to be a mere mortal ( " AtmAnam mAnusham manyE,

RAmam DasarathAtmajam " ) and displayed extreme distress on Sri Mythily's

abduction, is not averse to showing us facets of His overwhelming supremacy and

overlordship, on the occasions of JatAyu MOksham and Sethu Bandhanam (building a

bridge across the unfathomable and vast waters of the ocean). Similarly, Sri

Krishna, who ran away from battle with JarAsandha, hiding His traits of

invincibility and boundless bravery, chooses to display His supremacy in all its

indescribable splendour, during the Visvaroopa Darsanam accorded to Arjuna.

Thus, merely because the Lord affects certain demeanours during His avatArAs, in

response to the need of the occasion and hour, it doesn't follow that any of His

innumerable auspicious attributes are missing during His descents into the human

world.

 

 

 

4. Another basic question is about the need for avatArAs. If the Lord is as

omnipotent as He is touted to be, can He not destroy the wicked, protect the

saintly and shore up Dharma, sitting at Sri Vaikunttam? Is His will not powerful

enough to accomplish all these with a mere thought, without necessitating His

personal attendance at the scene of action, in the form of an avatArA? For

instance, let us consider the instance of embattled Gajendra and His plaintive

appeal to the Lord for protection.

 

 

 

Having decided to help Gajendra, why did the Lord personally rush to the scene

to do it? Could He not have done it sitting at Srivaikuntam itself and by merely

willing the crocodile dead, thereby liberating the elephant?

 

Equally, He could have sent His Chakra to attend to the chore. What was the need

for Him to indulge in overkill, as it were, by coming down all the way from His

abode to destroy a mere crocodile?

 

 

 

A rich man kept asking the aforesaid question and was unsatisfied with all

reasonable answers. To teach him a lesson, his friend came running to him one

day and announced that the man's son had fallen into a well. Dismayed at the

news and in a panic, the rich man dropped whatever he was doing and rushed out

to the well, only to find the news to be false. When he remonstrated with the

friend for having misled him, the friend retorted, " Even though you have a lot

of servants, did you think of sending any of them for rescuing the boy? If this

is the depth of your attachment for your boy, just consider the urgency the

Lord, who is the Universal Father, might have felt for freeing Gajendra! "

 

 

 

Stories apart, the fact of the matter is that while the crocodile could have

very well been destroyed by proxy, Gajendra's happiness at the Lord's appearance

on the scene and his joy in feasting his eyes on the divine form, could not have

been achieved without Emperuman's personal presence. One of the important

purposes of the Lord's avataras is " ParithrANAya sAdhUnAm " . While mere " thrANam "

or protection can be afforded even without the Lord being present, " ParithrANam "

or comprehensive protection includes affording the devotee the immeasurable

bliss of seeing the Lord, and could not be carried out without Emperuman

materializing in person.

 

 

 

The Bhagavat Gita tells us that one who understands fully the purpose, nature

and true glory of the Lord's avatArAs, is liberated from his mortal coils, never

again to be born in this mundane world.

 

 

 

We are again assailed by a doubt-if indeed liberation can be attained merely by

knowing the avatAra Rahasyam, wouldn't all the strategies therefor, prescribed

by Shastras (like Bhakti, Prapatti, etc) become needless and futile? Who in his

right mind would chose a difficult, strenuous and long-drawn upAya like Bhakti

YOga, when the same goal can be achieved through a mere knowledge of avatAra

Rahasyam?

 

 

 

Sri Ramanuja clarifies in his beautiful commentary, that wisdom as to the Lord's

avatArAs doesn't lead directly to MOksham-it destroys the accumulated sins which

stand in the way of adoption of an appropriate strategy for liberation. Once

this is done, the individual concerned is enabled to follow the path to MOksham,

as prescribed in the Shastras, like Bhakti or Prapatti.

 

 

 

The term " avatAra " literally means " to come down " or to descend. This is what

the Lord does-He descends from His exalted abode of Paramapadam, to be born in

this world of sin, sadness and sorrow. The Supreme Lord mingles as one with us

sinning and decadent mortals, sharing our happiness and sorrow. Though, in the

literal sense, this may be a descent for Him, it actually enhances His splendour

and glory manifold, thus representing an ascent for Him in real terms. Also, He

descends to earth, so that we may ascend to paradise and liberation.

 

 

 

Let us conclude with an estimate of how effective the Lord's avatArAs have been

in achieving their objective of emancipation for all. Tiruvarangattu Amudanar

tells us that we mortals have become such hard nuts to crack, with hearts made

of stone and steel, that we would fail to be moved even if the Supreme Lord were

to come in person and stand before us, appealing to us to return to the path of

virtue. Swami Desikan too remarks that Emperuman, having failed to achieve fully

the objective of His avatArAs, took another set of ten avatArAs in the form of

Azhwars (excluding Sri Madhurakavi and Sri Andal), to cure the inhabitants of

this world of their insatiable appetite for sensual pleasures and material

possessions. And having found quite a few escaping the net even then, the Lord

takes birth as Acharyas like Sri Ramanuja, his predecessors and his descendants,

who, till date, have toiled hard to rescue us from the mundane morass and to

lift us on to the terra firma of righteousness, leading us ultimately to

Paradise, through the unfailing strategy of Prapatti. Hence, our merciful

Acharya is the Lord incarnate, though he might appear to be one among us, made

of flesh and blood. Just as we look beyond the stone and mortar of which divine

forms at various temples are made, so too we should discard our view of the

Acharya as a human being and accord to him the high pedestal we would to

Emperuman. Thus our Preceptors are not merely messengers of God, but the Lord

Himself in human form and are entitled to as much veneration, adoration and

obedience, as we accord the other avatArAs of Emperuman.

 

 

 

Srimate Sri LakshmiNrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

dasan, sadagopan