Why you should not look for superhuman in Avatars?

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Why you should not 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 Harihi " : The

king is regarded as the avatar of Vishnu. vaidyO naarayaNO harihi " :

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 me " , 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 Am " .

 

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)