[Sri Ramakrishna] Some Avatar Questions

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" Brad Stephan " <brad

Some Avatar Questions

 

Dear Brad

 

I have tried to give some answers....

 

 

> Greetings:

>

> 1) The " misogynist " question leads me to ask, isn't another unique

> characteristic of Sri Ramakrishna's life His worship of God in the form of

> the Divine Mother (versus a male Godhead)?

 

Yes this is a unique feature seen in this 'Avatar'. In fact Swami

Vivekananda said something like: In days to come Sri Ramakrishna

will be worshippd as the 'avatar' of mother goddess..

 

 

> 2) Did Swamiji, or another RKO member ever create a comprehensive list of

> all known Avatars?

 

I am not aware of any such list. Sri Ramakrishna often mentioned that

the Hindu scriptures have room for vast number of avatars apart from

the 10 avatars mentioned in the Bhagavat.

 

> 3) Do Avatar's have previous lives?

 

The Bhagavat Puran talks of the 10 avatars as 'descent of Vishnu'

so it is the same personality re-visiting.

 

> 4) Why did Sri Ramakrishna write a person's mantra on their outstretched

> tongue? Is this practice followed today?

 

There is mention that an enlightened man may transmit

spirituality in a variety of ways including:-

By touch,

By a mere glance, (used by Raman Maharshi)

By whispering a sacred verse

By writing on tounge (not aware of any other Swami of the order using this)

Through dream(s)

 

I am sure there are other ways too....jay

 

> God Bless,

> Brad

[Guest guest]

Dear friend,

 

Yes, in Hinduism there are 10 Avatars specified

according to the mythology. Sri Ramakrishna was

described as the greatest of them by his disciple

Swami Vivekananda. The reason behind this statement

can be realised by closely following the life of Sri

Ramakrishna. In one life he has lived the all thoughts

and prescriptions and ways shown by all the previous

Avatars.

 

Whether Avatars have past lives or not, it is a

question that can be addressed under the light of the

fact, that Avatars are the incarnation of the divinity

who come down to earth to preach a message and rescue

the humanity from the clutches of confusions and

misdeeds. So they are not under the same law of birth

and death of normal human being. By their wish, they

take a form and by their wish they leave that form.

 

Sri ramakrishna had a unique way of initiating people

to the divine name. The process of writing the names

of the Ishta (The deity) for that particular person

was to be inscribed on the tounge of the person. This

process was prevalent in the ancient Guru (The master)

and Shishya(The disciple) tradition which is perhaps

not so prevalent in recent days. The reason is the

tradition was to symbolise that now onwards, the

disciple has to praise the name of God and will avoid

speaking any words which will hurt anybody.

 

This is my opinion in my knowledge. We shall wait for

our other friends to comment on the same. And for your

information, the ten Avatars are not compiled by

Swamiji or anybody but it can be traced back to the

thousands of years old Hindu mythologies.

 

Regards

 

Samudra Gupta

 

=====

If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;Be kind

anyway.

Samudra Gupta

93,Marks court

South end on sea, Essex, SS1 2RQ, UK

Tel: (44)01702 329 496 mobile: (44) 07799790846

 

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Dear Brad

Just want to take on your question regarding Avatars from a different

perspective which means I am not answering the question but adding some

thoughts:

1. Once a person attains self realisation how is he any different from an Avatar

since the individiual ego is fully merged in the universal cosnsciousness. He is

effectively reborn as God in the same physical body. Can someone dispute this ?

2. Even if one were to consider as Avatar strictly as the one who, not from the

impulse of his Karmas but for help or protection of devotees (as Sri Krishna or

Jesus) is born in this world; my submission is that there may have been

countless Avatars of God, many of which are not even known to humanity. God can

silently come and help and just leave without any publicising. In trying to make

a list of Avatars there is more likelihood of missing out so many Avatars. I

personally take the definition of Avatars in a liberal sense the only difference

being that some are more known and worshipped than the others. However to an

Avatar it is least important to be recognised. He or she may come with a purpose

which may not even be fully understood and known and goes away. At any point of

time which may be even now, God may be moving in dozens of Avatars fulfilling

his purpose that we may not even understand

3. It is not even necessary that an Avatar be a human being and this is amply

borne by the Dashavtars (or the 10 incarnations) of Lord Vishnu including many

non human forms which were to achieve a particular purpose. So why attempt to

count them?

4. My humble advise to you would be to stop bothering about taking a head count

of Avatars. In the ultimate analysis this entire universe is a play field of God

and what seperates you and an Avatar is self realisation. Once you live in this

body after perfect self realisation you are no different from an Avatar in the

sense that you are only helping and protecting humanity and working in perfect

coordination with the will of the Lord.with no ego consciousness left.

Just think about it.

Dev

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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DEVINDER wrote:

> 4. My humble advise to you would be to stop bothering about taking a head

count of Avatars. In the ultimate analysis this entire universe is a play field

of God and what seperates you and an Avatar is self realisation. ...

 

Very well stated.

Reading this is a synchronicity for me, as I have been thinking the very same

thing lately.

 

 

 

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My dear friend Devinder has pointed out so many

important aspects. Yes, the ultimate emphasis is to

the messages of the Avatar and their embodiment of the

whole spiritual concept. But I have a slight

distnction to make. Avatars, in my opinion, are

already realised, who descend down for a purpose and

being an individual I can become realised.

 

But again, the whole purpose of life is to proactively

support the process of evolution in a conscious way. I

have posted my ideas in the mail with subject " Why

world gets unrest? " Have u read that by any chance?

 

Regards

 

Samudra

 

--- DEVINDER AHUJA <devahuja wrote:

<HR>

<html><body>

 

 

<tt>

<BR>

Dear Brad<BR>

Just want to take on your question regarding Avatars

from a different perspective which means I am not

answering the question but adding some thoughts:<BR>

1. Once a person attains self realisation how is he

any different from an Avatar since the individiual ego

is fully merged in the universal cosnsciousness. He is

effectively reborn as God in the same physical body.

Can someone dispute this ?<BR>

2. Even if one were to consider as Avatar strictly as

the one who, not from the impulse of his Karmas but

for help or protection of devotees (as Sri Krishna or

Jesus) is born in this world; my submission is that

there may have been countless Avatars of God, many of

which are not even known to humanity. God can silently

come and help and just leave without any publicising.

In trying to make a list of Avatars there is more

likelihood of missing out so many Avatars. I

personally take the definition of Avatars in a liberal

sense the only difference being that some are more

known and worshipped than the others. However to an

Avatar it is least important to be recognised. He or

she may come with a purpose which may not even be

fully understood and known and goes away. At any point

of time which may be even now, God may be moving in

dozens of Avatars fulfilling his purpose that we may

not even understand<BR>

3. It is not even necessary that an Avatar be a human

being and this is amply borne by the Dashavtars (or

the 10 incarnations) of Lord Vishnu including many non

human forms which were to achieve a particular

purpose. So why attempt to count them? <BR>

4. My humble advise to you would be to stop bothering

about taking a head count of Avatars. In the ultimate

analysis this entire universe is a play field of God

and what seperates you and an Avatar is self

realisation. Once you live in this body after perfect

self realisation you are no different from an Avatar

in the sense that you are only helping and protecting

humanity and working in perfect coordination with the

will of the Lord.with no ego consciousness left. <BR>

Just think about it.<BR>

Dev<BR>

<BR>

<BR>

& nbsp; <BR>

<BR>

<BR>

<BR>

<BR>

<BR>

Send your FREE holiday greetings online at

Greetings.<BR>

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[Guest guest]

>DEVINDER AHUJA <devahuja

>1. Once a person attains self realisation how is he any different from an

>Avatar since the individiual ego is fully merged in the universal

>cosnsciousness. He is effectively reborn as God in the same physical body.

>Can someone dispute this ?

 

I would like to quote this incident from Sri Ramakrishna's life (I belive

this extract is from Swami Vivekananda's life by his E & W disciples)

 

<quote>

A couple of days before the end, a curious thought flashed across Narendra's

mind, as he stood at the Master's bedside. " He has said many times that he

is an Incarnation of God. If he can say it now in the throes of death, then

I will believe him! "

Instantly the Master turned to him and summoning all his energy said

distinctly, " O my Naren, are you still not convinced? He who was Rama and

Krishna is now Ramakrishna - but not in your Vedantic sense! "

</quote>

 

I do not have the book at hand but I remeber there is a discussion in the

book regarding the significance of this passage and the difference between

an Avatar and a god-reliazed person. Perhaps some list member who has access

to the book could elabortae on this.

 

Sincerely,

 

Girish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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