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Vol 01.024 Pre-SaraNAgati Issues
5 December, 1996

In this Issue:
1. Note from the Editor
2. From Chapter 9 of "Hinduism Rediscovered" " The Descending God"
    An attempt to understand to present a new look at some of the less known
    facts about the well known Avatars of the Lord

1. NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

Dear Bhagavatas,
We present in the next three issues a new look at some less known facts about the well known Avatars of the Lord. Hope you will find them interesting

Dasoham
Anbil Ramaswamy


2. Excerpts From Chapter 9 of "Hinduism Rediscovered"

THE DESCENDING GOD (AVATARS)
The concept of Avatar is a distinguishing feature of Hinduism which is not present in any other religion. God's will is supreme. So, whenever he wants, he can appear in this world as a concrete person and APPEAR to be in flesh and blood though his body is Suddhasatva. Whenever there is a decline in the natural order of the Universe, whenever there is a rise in evil beyond certain limits, God manifests Himself and every such manifestation is called an Avatar.

"The Impersonal Absolute God, descends as it were to the level of our mundane universe and makes his presence felt. The perfect God takes on, it seems, an imperfection in itself to appear as a living being in order to take us imperfect beings on the onward path to perfection. So, whenever an event takes place (as when the son of God appeared on Earth), the people of that time who had the beatific experience of God's proximate presence worshipped Him as God incarnate. These Avatars are the closest approximation to the divinity for us, who cannot see him in ourselves"1

God can assume any incarnation including those in the person of beings who are subject to the law of Karma but this he does on his own free will (Sankalpa) for accomplishing a task which he deems necessary at any given time. This may include bringing succor to mankind in distress or reviving faith when it wavers due to unhealthy influences. God comes down to earth on such occasions to remind us of the eternal truths and cleanse and uplift our minds.

Says Lord Krishna
"Whenever there is danger to Dharma and rise in evil, I decide to incarnate myself"2

Again, he says more specifically
"To protect the virtuous , to destroy evil and to re-establish `Dharma, I incarnate myself in every yuga"3.

It may be asked whether God cannot destroy evil forces by being in his own Paramapada by his sheer Sankalpa especially when he has His Chakra ( discus) and other weapons.

The Answer is Yes. He can. But, to give reassurance and instill confidence to the Sadhus or Virtuous for whom he would like to reveal himself at `THEIR LEVEL', talking to them, mingling with them - He comes down to the world, and to remind the others like us of the eternal truths and turn our minds inward

Lord Krishna repeats :
One who understands the secret of my Avatars which is wonderful that I incarnate myself with my Aprakrita form by my mere will, whenever and wherever I will, can destroy all sins. He will not be born again in this world but will reach me"4. " Only they of real wisdom will know the secrets of the Lord's descent as if in flesh and blood even though He is of Pure Satva" 4A He incarnates not only to Quell evil and protect the good but also to establish by example, how we should conduct ourselves in our day to day life.

It is said Avatara hi asankhyeyah over 48 Avatars have been identified of which 10 are considered to be major Avatars (Dasavatar). The other Avatars are considered auxiliary Avatars.

Pancharatra Samhita lists 39 Avatars. In some of these secondary Avatars, Lord Narayana enters the soul (Anupravesa) of the persons whom he deems appropriate for carrying out one or more of the specific purposes Viz. saving the virtuous, destroying the evil doers and reestablishing Dharma.

An interesting point to note is that incidentally these ten major Avatars seem to follow a pattern consistent with the time schedule of the various Yugas Krita is 4 times of Kaliyuga Treta is 3 times of Kaliyuga (Tre : 3) Dwapara is 2 times of Kaliyuga (Dwa : 2). It is said that the Matsya, Kurma, Varaha and Nrisimha occurred in the Krita yuga, Vamana, Parasurama and Srirama in the Tretayuga, Balarama and Sri Krishna in Dwaparayuga and Kalki alone at the end of the Kaliyuga - in the descending order of 4,3,2 and 1 respectively. This however, does not mean that the events occurred in the various yugas within the same Mahayuga.

Also, these Avatars seem to conform to the pattern of evolution of life as understood by science - Viz. Aquatic through evolutionary process of Fish, Tortoise, Boar, Half human - half lion, then dwarf reaching full human form in Rama and finally the divine form of Sri Krishna and the Kalki yet to be.

As we saw while discussing the `Vibhava', there are innumerable occasions when Lord Narayana descended `down to earth'5

SECTION 1 : MAIN AVATARS
The Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Puranas and Itihasas abound in giving details of the background of these Avatars.

As most people know the stories of these Avatars, we give below only very brief accounts of the same bringing out the significance and purpose of each Avatar with the manner in which Alwars and Acharyas (esp. Swami Desika) were involved in enjoying the various Avatars.

1.1 MATSYA AVATAR (The fish) 6
As per Vedic computation, a Mahayuga comprising Krita, Treta, Dwarpara and Kalki works out to 4.32 million human years, 72 Mahayugas constitute one Manvartara ( i.e.) the lifetime of a Manu and 14 Manvantaras make one day or `Kalpa' of Brahma which converted into modern reckoning would be equal to 435,456 billion human years. Brahma's night is of equal duration. He is supposed to live for 100 years called "Param". Half of it is Parardham. Brahma is supposed to have completed 50 years of his age and therefore he has set foot on his second Parardham (Dvitiya Parardham). At the end of one of the Kalpas, after a day's strenuous work, as nightfall was approaching Brahma felt sleepy. As his eyelids closed and his mouth opened involuntarily for a yawn the Vedas slipped out of his mouth without his noticing.

But a demon by name Hayagriva did not fail to notice this and hurried to devour the Vedas. Sri Vishnu who is all pervading and omniscient observed this and decided to retrieve the Vedas and restore them to Brahma to enable him to go ahead with his work of creation during the next Kalpa (day break).

While Sri Vishnu could have wrested the Vedas from the demon by his sheer will power (Sankalpa) he chose to wait for performing a two-in-one feat of conferring his blessings on a Bhakta, SATYAVRATA by name while destroying the demon.

As the deluge (Pralaya) was near at hand he decided to descend `down to earth' in the form of a `fish' to accomplish both the tasks. Satya Vrata was a great and good King. Once he went to the river KRITAMALA for offering water (Argya) during Sandya vandana. A small fish came into his hands as he cupped his palms to lift water. He dropped it back in the water. But every time he lifted water the fish was sure to get into his hands. The King left it in a tub but it grew
so fast that the tub could not hold it. The king transferred into a well,
pond, lake, river and finally the sea as it overgrew so rapidly that none of them could contain it. Satyavrata was amazed, when the fish revealed himself as Lord VISHNU. When the Lord asked the king what he wanted, he did not desire anything for himself. He did not even want Moksha. All that he sought was that even during the impending Pralaya, he should be instrumental in saving the life of worthy souls from destruction.

The fish told him that on the 7th day from then a great deluge (Mahapralaya) would take place when a severe tornado would rip through the Universe and destroy it. But, if Satyavrata could muster herbs , seeds and a pick of beings he wanted for the next Kalpa and keep ready, the fish would send a spacious boat in which all of them as also the Saptarishis (7 sages) would be accommodated and saved. The fish advised that Vasuki, the serpent should be brought and used as a rope for fastening the boat to the horns of the fish. Satyavrata did exactly as advised by the fish and the entire crew was saved. As the boat sailed throughout the night of Brahma, Lord Vishnu taught Satyavrata and the Saptarishis what is known as' Matsya Purana.'

Thus, Vishnu saved true devotees from destruction and endowed them with divine knowledge. During the 7 day waiting period the Lord in his gigantic fish form sought after the demon Hayagriva, killed him in a straight fight and retrieved the Vedas.

Thus, He accomplished the three tasks of saving the righteous, destroying the demon and retrieving Vedas for establishing Dharma. This SATYAVRATA later became the Manu during Chakshusha Manvantara.

As fish is believed to nourish its little ones by its sheer glance and therefore, known never to bat its eyelids - the MATSYA Lord would save his devotees by his mere glance. The dirt that gets accumulated in beings that live through the ocean of SAMSARA - is cleansed by MATSYA Lord.

Swami Sri Vedanta Desika calls this Avatar as `ICHA MEENA' in his Dasavatara Stotra to indicate that the Lord took the form of a fish by his desire ( Icha or Sankalpa)

1.2 KURMA AVATAR (Tortoise) 7
By the grace of God, the Devas were living happily and were resplendent with glory. Once sage Durvasa went to the abode of Sri Vishnu and offered obeisance to Sri Vishnu and Sri Mahalakshmi (Consort of Sri Vishnu). He got a garland of Srimahalakshmi from a Vidhyadhara damsel. Earlier, the divine mother was pleased with performance of the damsel on Yazh, (a stringed musical instrument like harp) and had gifted the garland to her.

While returning, Sage Durvasa passed through the Indraloka where Indra, Lord of Devas was coming in a procession mounted on his elephant . Durvasa offered the garland to Indra. Indra did not receive it with due respect but plucked it with the Ankusa (a goad used to spur the elephant) and placed it on the head of the elephant which promptly threw it down and trampled upon it. The sage got angry at the callous behavior of Indra and instantly cursed him and the Devas that all their glory and splendor would be lost and they would become emaciated and shorn of their power.

Even as the sage turned his back, his curse started operating and the Devaloka lost its luster. Indra went to Brahma who led the Devas to Sri Vishnu, the protector. Lord Vishnu advised that they could reclaim their lost glory and strength only if they drank the nectar of immortality which could be got only by churning the milky ocean. But, how could they do it?

Lord Vishnu suggested that they lift mount Mandara and place it in mid - ocean as a churndashery using Vasuki, the serpent as a rope for turning it. But, weak as they were, Devas could not even think of lifting the mountain. Lord suggested that they make truce with the Asuras and enlist their support in a JOINT VENTURE!. But, he also warned that the Devas should not desire any of the things emerging from the ocean even if the Asuras forcibly took them. They should not rest until the nectar appeared and he himself would ensure that the Asuras did not snatch it.

Brahma returned to his Satyaloka and Indra set forth to the Capital of Asuras for peace talks. The Asuras were pleased and agreed to participate in the joint endeavor of lifting the mountain and churning. As they tried to lift, the burden of the mountain was too much and many on both sides got crushed. Lord Vishnu mounted the mountain on the back of `Garuda' his carrier, who flew to the seashore and safely deposited the mountain right at the center of the ocean. Vasuki was wound round Mandara. The Asuras out of ego would not settle for the tail side. So, they took charge of the head side of Vasuki, while the Devas had to make do with the tail side.

As the churning began, the mountain wobbled as it had nothing to support and began to sink. Immediately, Lord Vishnu took the form of a giant sized tortoise, plunged into the ocean and emerged out with the mountain on his back.

They churned now with ease. The first thing to appear was the deadly poison called Halahala or Kalakuta ( black poison) representing the impurities of the ocean. The poison was so potent as to blind the eyes and affect breathing. Responding to the prayer of the Devas and Asuras, Lord Siva drank the poison. Parvati, his consort stopped the poison from descending down the throat. Hence, Siva is also called NEELAKANTA (Bluethroated).

Then emerged SURABHI (the cow),VAARUNI (wine), KARPAKAM / PARIJATHAM (a tree), APSARAS (nymphs) CHANDRA (moon), SRI (Mahalakshmi) , UCHAISRAVAS ( the white sonorous steed ), AIRAVATHAM' ( Indra's elephant). Finally, Lord DANVANTARI (the divine physician) who is none other than another incarnation of Lord Vishnu appeared with a golden pitcher with AMRUTHA ( the nectar of immortality).-an elixir of life that can prolong life indefinitely. ( It
is also believed to have the properties that can change any base metal into gold) Both the Devas and Asuras were excited and a fight royal ensued.

Lord Vishnu now took the form of a beautiful damsel, enticed the Asuras to give up their fight and entrust to her the task of distributing of nectar among them all, on condition that none would question her action. Both sides agreed to the condition. The Mohini (bewitching damsel) started distributing first to the row where Devas had seated. The Asuras waited for their turn. But, by the time she completed serving the row occupied by the Devas, there was not a drop of nectar left in the pitcher. Then, Mohini appeared as Lord Vishnu, mounted on his Garuda and flew to his abode.

The Asuras, disappointed as they were charged on the Devas. But, the rejuvenated Devas easily vanquished the emaciated Asuras and regained their lost power and glory and the Asuras were driven to Patala loka.

It will be seen that Lord Vishnu did everything. He advised them how to get nectar, how to enlist support of their sworn enemies. He arranged to the lift the mountain. He deliberately allowed the Asuras to be on the headside of Vasuki which spouted poison and killed a number of Asuras. He held the mountain on his back to enable the churning. He took the form of Danvantri and emerged with the pitcher of nectar. He again appeared as Mohini to ensure Devas and deprive Asuras of a share in the nectar. Without all this help, none of these could have happened and Devas would have been languishing from the effects of the curse of Durvasa forever.

Sri Swami Desikan while describing this Avatara says "Vihara Katchapa" meaning that Lord did all this sportively assuming the form of a tortoise. He says that when the mountain moved during the churning, it looked as if it gently scratched the back of the tortoise and relieved it of its itching and in the relief so secured, the Lord

actually felt sleepy. He imagines that as the waves of the ocean rose and fell, it looked as if it were a swinging 'waterbed' on which the Lord enjoyed the swing. Thirumangai Azhwar calls him a `GIRIDHARAN' meaning one who bore the mountain in anticipation of a similar feat the Lord was to exhibit in a subsequent Avatar as Krishna when he lifted the Govardhana Giri with his little finger.