Dear Sriman Rajaram,
The secret of avatara is clearly stated in Chapter 4 of Bhagavadgita in the first few verses. Here there
are no number, form, or space limitation. Avatra
happens when the balance between dharma and adharma is
tilted more towards adharma:
yada dharmasya ghlAnir hi (Dharma over shadowed)
abhi yada abdharmasya utthAnam bhavati (Adharma triumphs).
Taken this way, avatara is happening more or less all the time. In the face of adharma, better sense prevails, some great soul raises to protect the humanity from imminent danger. These are the leaders we celebrate. Just the major ones are recognized and celebrated (like the dashavatarams).
Just remember dharma and adharma ever co-exist,
mutually competing (paraspara kalaham). Whichever wins
brings the out come in that situation.
All our puranas and sampradayams are nothing but built in
safety valves. Sometimes these valves themselves
create problems as they get corrupted and wrong
priorities are set for whatever reason
(we all have tens of examples for this).
That is when religious reformation
takes place to re-establish truth (dharma)
and slay corrupted traditions and thoughts
(Ramanujacharya had to walk out of his wife
who was preoccupied with caste superiority).
These reformers are avatarams.
Where is the question of time and
number limitation?
I think puranams should not be
taken as the whole pramanams. They are more
contextual. That is why they are not prasthana
trayams. If you read
Mahabharata, each hero in a given context is
described as the best and the greatest.
That is all true. But if you look at the whole
fewer heroes stick out. That is why only
a small part of Mahabharatham is a prasthana trayam.
Just ask how many great sons,
daughters and parents are there in this world?
Answer will be in billions! Are they wrong? No.
Are they right? No.
Please bare this in mind while reading Puranams.
You should not get stuck on one phrase
here and there. That will cause confusion,
worse yet you miss the higher truth.
If you get a chance, watch or read
Joseph Campbell and the power of Myth
with Bill Moyers.
It helped me, it may help you too.
With that, I am able
to better appreciate our sanatana dharmam.
dAsan
K.S. tAtAchAr
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